Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet Near-Earth

LONEOS

Add to an observing list or journal →

182P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.024 AU
True anomaly
253.01°
Distance from Earth
1.083 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 LONEOS — 2.024 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 1.083 AU from Earth today (9.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 04m 24s
Declination
-15° 51′ 23″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
1.08 AU
Elongation from the Sun
153.12° — 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
2.931 AU
Eccentricity
0.6663
Inclination
16.91°
Orbital period
5.02 years
Perihelion
0.978 AU
Aphelion
4.884 AU
Longitude of ascending node
75.1°
Argument of periapsis
51.44°
Epoch · J2000
2453294.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 42.4 LD
0.1088 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.846

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
200
Data arc
15.01 years
First observed
26 October 2001
Last observed
29 October 2016
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
20.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 182P · 182P/2001 WF2 · 182P/2006 W2

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 23 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of LONEOS at 2057-12-07 20:26 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2057-12-07 20:26 UTC close approach of LONEOS. Catalogue miss distance 124.4 LD · 4.78 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2057-12-04 to 2057-12-10, 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 north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 124.4 LD · 4.78 × 10⁷ km 2057-12-07 20:26 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2057-12-07 20:26 UTC close approach of LONEOS. Catalogue miss distance 124.4 LD · 4.78 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2057-12-04 to 2057-12-10, 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 north 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
2044-04-27 00:34:00 Juptr 1.0964 AU 426.7 LD 8 km/s
2057-12-07 20:26:00 Earth 0.3197 AU 124.4 LD 19.9 km/s
2063-03-14 02:27:00 Earth 0.3711 AU 144.4 LD 16 km/s
2079-12-29 11:26:00 Juptr 1.4238 AU 554.1 LD 9.7 km/s
2092-06-19 18:37:00 Juptr 1.7608 AU 685.3 LD 9.5 km/s
2099-01-02 19:27:00 Earth 0.1914 AU 74.5 LD 10.3 km/s
2128-02-26 06:40:00 Juptr 1.2917 AU 502.7 LD 7.1 km/s
2139-12-24 08:06:00 Earth 0.1533 AU 59.7 LD 12.5 km/s
2145-03-25 19:59:00 Earth 0.3918 AU 152.5 LD 19 km/s
2163-09-21 08:33:00 Juptr 1.2252 AU 476.8 LD 6.6 km/s

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

Sources