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Comet

LINEAR

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187P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.964 AU
True anomaly
305.12°
Distance from Earth
4.899 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 LINEAR — 3.964 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.899 AU from Earth today (40.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 12m 40s
Declination
+04° 01′ 49″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.9 AU
Elongation from the Sun
18.32° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
4.494 AU
Eccentricity
0.1732
Inclination
13.66°
Orbital period
9.53 years
Perihelion
3.715 AU
Aphelion
5.272 AU
Longitude of ascending node
111.74°
Argument of periapsis
134.74°
Epoch · J2000
2455601.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,058.2 LD
2.7192 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.937

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
296
Data arc
21.35 years
First observed
12 May 1999
Last observed
16 September 2020
Residual RMS
0.8 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 16.8
7.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 187P · 187P/1999 J5 · 187P/2007 E3

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2068-05-14 10:11:00 Juptr 1.0199 AU 396.9 LD 3.8 km/s
2073-01-19 15:08:00 Jupiter 0.3561 AU 138.6 LD 3.7 km/s
2073-01-19 15:08:00 Juptr 0.3561 AU 138.6 LD 3.7 km/s
2163-01-14 00:12:00 Juptr 0.8671 AU 337.5 LD 4.9 km/s
2174-07-13 23:25:00 Juptr 0.6847 AU 266.5 LD 4.6 km/s

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

Sources