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Comet

Anderson-LINEAR

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148P/Anderson-LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.459 AU
True anomaly
194.46°
Distance from Earth
5.692 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 Anderson-LINEAR — 5.459 AU from the Sun Anderson-LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Anderson-LINEAR is 5.692 AU from Earth today (47.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 47m 50s
Declination
-24° 15′ 22″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
5.7 AU
Elongation from the Sun
71.14° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.678 AU
Eccentricity
0.5393
Inclination
3.68°
Orbital period
7.05 years
Perihelion
1.694 AU
Aphelion
5.661 AU
Longitude of ascending node
89.79°
Argument of periapsis
6.6°
Epoch · J2000
2456236.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 276.6 LD
0.7108 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.828

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
250
Data arc
59.4 years
First observed
22 November 1963
Last observed
18 April 2023
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
15 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 14
13

Discovery & classification

Also known as 148P · 148P/1963 W1

Named

Close approaches 14 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2031-04-25 17:43:00 Juptr 1.1287 AU 439.2 LD 8.7 km/s
2066-11-03 08:15:00 Juptr 0.6511 AU 253.4 LD 7.4 km/s
2092-03-09 01:08:00 Juptr 0.1703 AU 66.3 LD 5.9 km/s
2092-03-09 01:08:00 Jupiter 0.1703 AU 66.3 LD 5.9 km/s
2113-07-29 00:10:00 Juptr 0.5566 AU 216.6 LD 5.9 km/s
2150-02-06 07:28:00 Juptr 0.9307 AU 362.2 LD 4.4 km/s
2186-11-23 02:24:00 Juptr 0.1947 AU 75.8 LD 5.6 km/s
2186-11-23 02:24:00 Jupiter 0.1947 AU 75.8 LD 5.6 km/s

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

Sources