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Comet

Christensen

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164P/Christensen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.058 AU
True anomaly
131.92°
Distance from Earth
4.96 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 Christensen — 4.058 AU from the Sun Christensen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Christensen is 4.96 AU from Earth today (41.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 01m 37s
Declination
+07° 39′ 12″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.96 AU
Elongation from the Sun
22.58° — 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
3.661 AU
Eccentricity
0.5397
Inclination
16.25°
Orbital period
7.01 years
Perihelion
1.685 AU
Aphelion
5.637 AU
Longitude of ascending node
88.31°
Argument of periapsis
325.93°
Epoch · J2000
2458360.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 280.9 LD
0.7217 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.777

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,861
Data arc
15.65 years
First observed
7 October 2010
Last observed
1 June 2026
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
20 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 164P · 164P/2004 Y1

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2041-12-10 18:46:00 Juptr 1.1172 AU 434.8 LD 5.8 km/s
2077-07-10 21:34:00 Juptr 1.1227 AU 436.9 LD 5.8 km/s
2137-12-27 15:53:00 Jupiter 0.447 AU 174.0 LD 6.7 km/s
2137-12-27 15:53:00 Juptr 0.447 AU 174.0 LD 6.7 km/s
2148-12-14 06:44:00 Juptr 1.8371 AU 715.0 LD 9 km/s
2185-05-14 22:00:00 Juptr 1.1066 AU 430.7 LD 8.1 km/s
2196-06-23 04:07:00 Juptr 0.9737 AU 378.9 LD 6.4 km/s

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

Sources