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Comet

Lovas

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184P/Lovas 2

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.396 AU
True anomaly
354.71°
Distance from Earth
0.695 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 Lovas — 1.396 AU from the Sun Lovas
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lovas is 0.695 AU from Earth today (5.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 41m 04s
Declination
-15° 13′ 45″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
0.7 AU
Elongation from the Sun
109.53° — 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
3.522 AU
Eccentricity
0.6043
Inclination
1.55°
Orbital period
6.61 years
Perihelion
1.394 AU
Aphelion
5.651 AU
Longitude of ascending node
277.74°
Argument of periapsis
78.06°
Epoch · J2000
2456460.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 152.1 LD
0.3908 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.788

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
349
Data arc
33.93 years
First observed
30 November 1986
Last observed
5 November 2020
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Physical properties

Mean radius
3.10 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
18.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 5.5
18.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 184P · 184P/1986 W1 · 184P/2007 A1 · 1986 XIII · 1986p

Named

Close approaches 15 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2040-12-27 13:56:00 Juptr 1.2898 AU 501.9 LD 8.6 km/s
2076-07-24 16:03:00 Jupiter 0.0623 AU 24.3 LD 7.3 km/s
2076-07-24 16:03:00 Juptr 0.0623 AU 24.3 LD 7.3 km/s
2123-12-18 20:18:00 Juptr 1.6156 AU 628.7 LD 9.1 km/s
2135-05-03 10:35:00 Juptr 0.5963 AU 232.1 LD 5.6 km/s
2171-07-10 03:54:00 Juptr 0.9005 AU 350.4 LD 6.9 km/s
2182-09-27 13:15:00 Juptr 1.5482 AU 602.5 LD 8.1 km/s

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

Sources