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Comet

LINEAR

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194P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.745 AU
True anomaly
158.05°
Distance from Earth
6.126 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 — 5.745 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 6.126 AU from Earth today (51.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 09m 36s
Declination
-33° 16′ 44″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
6.14 AU
Elongation from the Sun
62.6° — 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
4.006 AU
Eccentricity
0.5743
Inclination
11.12°
Orbital period
8.02 years
Perihelion
1.705 AU
Aphelion
6.306 AU
Longitude of ascending node
352.05°
Argument of periapsis
130.54°
Epoch · J2000
2455839.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 289.6 LD
0.7442 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.709

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
152
Data arc
16.46 years
First observed
17 November 2007
Last observed
2 May 2024
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
7 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7
17.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 194P · 194P/2000 B3 · 194P/2007 W2

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2043-07-27 03:13:00 Juptr 1.3161 AU 512.2 LD 5.7 km/s
2081-01-11 19:36:00 Juptr 1.2481 AU 485.7 LD 10.8 km/s
2104-10-01 11:49:00 Juptr 0.8254 AU 321.2 LD 6 km/s
2126-04-07 07:42:00 Juptr 1.1815 AU 459.8 LD 6.9 km/s
2164-01-20 23:49:00 Juptr 0.7413 AU 288.5 LD 6.1 km/s
2199-09-23 09:04:00 Juptr 0.0323 AU 12.6 LD 10.3 km/s
2199-09-23 09:04:00 Jupiter 0.0323 AU 12.6 LD 10.3 km/s

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

Sources