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Comet

Larsen

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200P/Larsen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.018 AU
True anomaly
214.36°
Distance from Earth
6.988 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 Larsen — 6.018 AU from the Sun Larsen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Larsen is 6.988 AU from Earth today (58.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 32m 49s
Declination
-17° 15′ 39″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
6.99 AU
Elongation from the Sun
11.4° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
4.908 AU
Eccentricity
0.3332
Inclination
12.12°
Orbital period
10.87 years
Perihelion
3.272 AU
Aphelion
6.543 AU
Longitude of ascending node
234.82°
Argument of periapsis
133.69°
Epoch · J2000
2454471.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 890.1 LD
2.2871 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.851

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
610
Data arc
22.13 years
First observed
3 November 1997
Last observed
20 December 2019
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
3 February 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 17.3
7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 200P · 200P/1997 V1 · 200P/2008 L1

Named

Close approaches 14 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2121-06-16 09:34:00 Juptr 1.3106 AU 510.0 LD 6 km/s
2132-01-05 18:47:00 Juptr 1.0927 AU 425.3 LD 4.4 km/s
2142-03-03 20:19:00 Juptr 1.5288 AU 595.0 LD 5.6 km/s
2147-06-23 20:58:00 Juptr 1.5203 AU 591.6 LD 3.6 km/s
2152-03-25 15:00:00 Juptr 1.7576 AU 684.0 LD 4.8 km/s
2160-07-25 13:43:00 Juptr 0.8173 AU 318.1 LD 3.6 km/s
2172-01-13 04:21:00 Juptr 1.1801 AU 459.2 LD 3.3 km/s
2188-02-07 13:46:00 Juptr 1.4817 AU 576.6 LD 4.2 km/s
2191-10-09 17:44:00 Juptr 1.8711 AU 728.2 LD 3 km/s

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

Sources