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Comet

LINEAR

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216P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.291 AU
True anomaly
157.96°
Distance from Earth
5.206 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 — 5.291 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 5.206 AU from Earth today (43.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 10m 13s
Declination
-27° 18′ 51″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
5.21 AU
Elongation from the Sun
88.97° — 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
3.875 AU
Eccentricity
0.4455
Inclination
9.05°
Orbital period
7.63 years
Perihelion
2.149 AU
Aphelion
5.601 AU
Longitude of ascending node
359.87°
Argument of periapsis
151.51°
Epoch · J2000
2457873.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 452.9 LD
1.1638 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.869

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
403
Data arc
23.34 years
First observed
1 February 2001
Last observed
6 June 2024
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 July 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 21.8
10.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 216P · 216P/2001 CV8 · 216P/2009 D1

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2056-07-31 02:53:00 Juptr 1.185 AU 461.2 LD 8.1 km/s
2080-03-25 23:22:00 Juptr 0.9131 AU 355.4 LD 7.1 km/s
2141-07-25 00:28:00 Juptr 0.8133 AU 316.5 LD 7.3 km/s
2165-01-31 16:39:00 Juptr 1.8048 AU 702.4 LD 10.3 km/s

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

Sources