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Comet Near-Earth

NEAT

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169P/NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
0.708 AU
True anomaly
48.69°
Distance from Earth
0.948 AU
As of
11 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 — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth NEAT — 0.708 AU from the Sun NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEAT is 0.948 AU from Earth today (7.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 21m 40s
Declination
+01° 12′ 24″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
0.95 AU
Elongation from the Sun
42.73° — 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
2.602 AU
Eccentricity
0.768
Inclination
11.3°
Orbital period
4.2 years
Perihelion
0.604 AU
Aphelion
4.601 AU
Longitude of ascending node
176.09°
Argument of periapsis
218.08°
Epoch · J2000
2458069.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 55.7 LD
0.1431 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.888

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,534
Data arc
37.58 years
First observed
7 March 1989
Last observed
6 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.49 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 October 2026

Physical properties

Rotation period
8.37 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 169P · 169P/2002 EX12

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 30 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of NEAT at 2056-01-15 11:47 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2056-01-15 11:47 UTC close approach of NEAT. Catalogue miss distance 67.3 LD · 2.59 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2056-01-12 to 2056-01-18, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 67.3 LD · 2.59 × 10⁷ km 2056-01-15 11:47 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2056-01-15 11:47 UTC close approach of NEAT. Catalogue miss distance 67.3 LD · 2.59 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2056-01-12 to 2056-01-18, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-06-24 04:29:00 Juptr 1.9922 AU 775.3 LD 9.7 km/s
2041-07-13 12:55:00 Juptr 1.0649 AU 414.4 LD 6.3 km/s
2053-06-02 17:32:00 Juptr 1.1811 AU 459.6 LD 7.3 km/s
2056-01-15 11:47:00 Earth 0.1729 AU 67.3 LD 19.3 km/s
2072-07-24 13:14:00 Earth 0.1948 AU 75.8 LD 26.9 km/s
2085-04-28 17:39:00 Venus 0.1323 AU 51.5 LD 17.6 km/s
2112-09-30 04:26:00 Juptr 1.1093 AU 431.7 LD 6.5 km/s
2124-08-14 22:51:00 Juptr 1.1269 AU 438.5 LD 6.9 km/s
2127-01-01 03:37:00 Venus 0.0561 AU 21.8 LD 22.1 km/s
2147-12-05 00:16:00 Venus 0.0414 AU 16.1 LD 20.6 km/s

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

Sources