Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Kushida

Add to an observing list or journal →

144P/Kushida

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.932 AU
True anomaly
165.49°
Distance from Earth
6.548 AU
As of
22 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Kushida — 5.932 AU from the Sun Kushida
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Kushida is 6.548 AU from Earth today (54.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 06m 50s
Declination
-21° 32′ 52″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
6.56 AU
Elongation from the Sun
47.83° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
3.829 AU
Eccentricity
0.6351
Inclination
3.93°
Orbital period
7.49 years
Perihelion
1.397 AU
Aphelion
6.262 AU
Longitude of ascending node
242.98°
Argument of periapsis
216.35°
Epoch · J2000
2459962.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 162.2 LD
0.4167 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.681

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,111
Data arc
7.84 years
First observed
1 August 2016
Last observed
5 June 2024
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
30 December 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18.8
12.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 144P · 144P/1994 A1 · 144P/2000 O2 · 1993 XX · 1994a

Named

Close approaches 18 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2044-10-08 09:54:00 Juptr 0.4303 AU 167.4 LD 8 km/s
2044-10-08 09:54:00 Jupiter 0.4303 AU 167.4 LD 8 km/s
2055-03-23 00:25:00 Juptr 1.6477 AU 641.3 LD 12.2 km/s
2080-04-10 14:50:00 Juptr 0.5556 AU 216.2 LD 6.5 km/s
2114-03-01 16:43:00 Jupiter 0.4426 AU 172.3 LD 7 km/s
2114-03-01 16:43:00 Juptr 0.4426 AU 172.3 LD 7 km/s
2119-05-17 10:45:00 Mars 0.0484 AU 18.8 LD 13.6 km/s
2139-05-07 09:05:00 Juptr 1.3237 AU 515.2 LD 11 km/s
2149-10-08 23:39:00 Juptr 0.6203 AU 241.4 LD 8.9 km/s
2174-12-04 12:55:00 Juptr 0.7509 AU 292.2 LD 6.1 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources