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Comet

Kowal-LINEAR

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158P/Kowal-LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.823 AU
True anomaly
136.33°
Distance from Earth
5.346 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 Kowal-LINEAR — 4.823 AU from the Sun Kowal-LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Kowal-LINEAR is 5.346 AU from Earth today (44.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 32m 17s
Declination
+10° 23′ 53″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
5.34 AU
Elongation from the Sun
54.23° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
4.721 AU
Eccentricity
0.0306
Inclination
7.91°
Orbital period
10.26 years
Perihelion
4.576 AU
Aphelion
4.865 AU
Longitude of ascending node
137.31°
Argument of periapsis
232.61°
Epoch · J2000
2456120.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,393.2 LD
3.5799 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.988

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,093
Data arc
45.51 years
First observed
24 July 1979
Last observed
25 January 2025
Residual RMS
0.76 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.8
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 158P · 158P/1979 O1 · 158P/2001 RG100 · 1979h

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2104-05-27 09:52:00 Jupiter 0.328 AU 127.6 LD 2.6 km/s
2104-05-27 09:52:00 Juptr 0.328 AU 127.6 LD 2.6 km/s
2127-05-22 09:18:00 Juptr 0.5463 AU 212.6 LD 3 km/s

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

Sources