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Comet Near-Earth

LINEAR

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217P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.527 AU
True anomaly
141.83°
Distance from Earth
5.28 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 LINEAR — 4.527 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 5.28 AU from Earth today (43.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 59m 53s
Declination
+12° 08′ 19″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
5.28 AU
Elongation from the Sun
37.79° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
3.95 AU
Eccentricity
0.6888
Inclination
12.86°
Orbital period
7.85 years
Perihelion
1.229 AU
Aphelion
6.67 AU
Longitude of ascending node
125.54°
Argument of periapsis
246.94°
Epoch · J2000
2456311.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 121.3 LD
0.3117 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.549

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,365
Data arc
17.11 years
First observed
17 March 2009
Last observed
28 April 2026
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
7 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 217P · 217P/2001 MD7 · 217P/2009 F3

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 15 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-04-06 12:51:00 Juptr 1.3696 AU 533.0 LD 6.1 km/s
2052-07-02 13:27:00 Juptr 1.5842 AU 616.5 LD 6.1 km/s
2056-04-01 10:27:00 Mars 0.0636 AU 24.8 LD 12.4 km/s
2076-10-26 21:59:00 Juptr 1.4553 AU 566.4 LD 6.1 km/s
2100-12-02 07:09:00 Juptr 1.1256 AU 438.0 LD 6.8 km/s
2124-08-23 16:47:00 Juptr 1.0152 AU 395.1 LD 8.5 km/s
2148-01-16 06:32:00 Juptr 1.8803 AU 731.8 LD 12.2 km/s
2158-08-13 16:48:00 Juptr 1.9092 AU 743.0 LD 12.4 km/s
2181-12-30 19:34:00 Juptr 0.9696 AU 377.3 LD 8.7 km/s

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

Sources