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Comet

McNaught

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220P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.918 AU
True anomaly
64.33°
Distance from Earth
1.016 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 McNaught — 1.918 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 1.016 AU from Earth today (8.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
03h 30m 07s
Declination
+04° 29′ 22″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
1.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
145.23° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.118 AU
Eccentricity
0.5014
Inclination
8.13°
Orbital period
5.5 years
Perihelion
1.555 AU
Aphelion
4.681 AU
Longitude of ascending node
150.11°
Argument of periapsis
180.6°
Epoch · J2000
2459974.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 211.6 LD
0.5436 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.995

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,161
Data arc
22.39 years
First observed
20 May 2004
Last observed
9 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.83 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
4.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 41.5
4.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 220P · 220P/2004 K2 · 220P/2009 H2

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2051-02-28 16:29:00 Juptr 0.9647 AU 375.4 LD 4 km/s
2063-01-31 04:54:00 Juptr 0.6214 AU 241.8 LD 3.1 km/s
2075-01-15 23:31:00 Juptr 0.8371 AU 325.8 LD 3.8 km/s
2146-06-01 07:43:00 Juptr 1.371 AU 533.6 LD 5.3 km/s
2158-03-14 02:14:00 Juptr 0.6457 AU 251.3 LD 3.2 km/s
2170-03-04 06:36:00 Juptr 0.9136 AU 355.5 LD 3.9 km/s

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

Sources