Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

LINEAR

Add to an observing list or journal →

221P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.304 AU
True anomaly
217.87°
Distance from Earth
4.714 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 — 4.304 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.714 AU from Earth today (39.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 12m 59s
Declination
+05° 25′ 52″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
4.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
60.5° — 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
3.473 AU
Eccentricity
0.4876
Inclination
11.43°
Orbital period
6.47 years
Perihelion
1.78 AU
Aphelion
5.167 AU
Longitude of ascending node
229.99°
Argument of periapsis
39.51°
Epoch · J2000
2455781.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 303.8 LD
0.7807 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.896

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
627
Data arc
20.53 years
First observed
14 April 2002
Last observed
23 October 2022
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 October 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.3
14

Discovery & classification

Also known as 221P · 221P/2002 JN16 · 221P/2009 L1

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2036-07-11 19:59:00 Juptr 0.4828 AU 187.9 LD 5.9 km/s
2036-07-11 19:59:00 Jupiter 0.4828 AU 187.9 LD 5.9 km/s
2085-03-20 15:30:00 Juptr 1.2097 AU 470.8 LD 7.4 km/s
2095-11-12 10:45:00 Juptr 0.5106 AU 198.7 LD 5.7 km/s
2132-10-07 19:30:00 Juptr 1.5201 AU 591.6 LD 8.9 km/s
2143-05-21 19:31:00 Juptr 1.0445 AU 406.5 LD 7.5 km/s
2179-09-22 08:42:00 Juptr 0.6116 AU 238.0 LD 4.2 km/s

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

Sources