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Comet

Van Ness

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213P/Van Ness-B

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.635 AU
True anomaly
165.79°
Distance from Earth
4.964 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 Van Ness — 4.635 AU from the Sun Van Ness
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Van Ness is 4.964 AU from Earth today (41.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 05m 25s
Declination
+18° 31′ 33″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
4.96 AU
Elongation from the Sun
65.75° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.422 AU
Eccentricity
0.3797
Inclination
10.24°
Orbital period
6.33 years
Perihelion
2.123 AU
Aphelion
4.722 AU
Longitude of ascending node
312.67°
Argument of periapsis
3.34°
Epoch · J2000
2455791.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 431.5 LD
1.1088 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.997

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
115
Data arc
77 days
First observed
12 July 2011
Last observed
27 September 2011
Residual RMS
0.92 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 June 2014

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 37
7.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 213P-B

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2026-10-17 20:45:00 Juptr 0.5636 AU 219.3 LD 3.4 km/s
2038-11-22 09:25:00 Juptr 1.1175 AU 434.9 LD 4.7 km/s
2109-11-15 14:31:00 Juptr 1.5929 AU 619.9 LD 5.6 km/s
2121-10-24 12:48:00 Juptr 0.6056 AU 235.7 LD 3.2 km/s
2133-12-03 21:44:00 Juptr 1.173 AU 456.5 LD 4.9 km/s

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

Sources