Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

McNaught

Add to an observing list or journal →

191P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.98 AU
True anomaly
266.67°
Distance from Earth
3.16 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 McNaught — 2.98 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 3.16 AU from Earth today (26.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 56m 17s
Declination
-23° 34′ 56″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
3.17 AU
Elongation from the Sun
70.02° — 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
3.533 AU
Eccentricity
0.4207
Inclination
8.76°
Orbital period
6.64 years
Perihelion
2.046 AU
Aphelion
5.019 AU
Longitude of ascending node
106.5°
Argument of periapsis
274.21°
Epoch · J2000
2455252.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 417.1 LD
1.0719 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.95

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
787
Data arc
21.44 years
First observed
5 August 2000
Last observed
14 January 2022
Residual RMS
0.78 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
5 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 8.3
13.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 191P · 191P/2000 P3 · 191P/2007 N1

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2050-11-12 03:23:00 Juptr 1.7126 AU 666.5 LD 1.5 km/s
2053-04-06 23:00:00 Juptr 1.3817 AU 537.7 LD 5.3 km/s
2100-10-04 00:18:00 Juptr 1.2942 AU 503.7 LD 5.2 km/s
2160-01-08 05:26:00 Juptr 0.8488 AU 330.3 LD 2.8 km/s
2195-09-18 02:24:00 Juptr 1.3686 AU 532.6 LD 5.4 km/s

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

Sources