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Comet

LINEAR-NEAT

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224P/LINEAR-NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.116 AU
True anomaly
219.41°
Distance from Earth
4.486 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-NEAT — 4.116 AU from the Sun LINEAR-NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-NEAT is 4.486 AU from Earth today (37.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 13m 41s
Declination
-33° 28′ 49″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
4.49 AU
Elongation from the Sun
61.64° — 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
3.37 AU
Eccentricity
0.4373
Inclination
14.87°
Orbital period
6.19 years
Perihelion
1.896 AU
Aphelion
4.843 AU
Longitude of ascending node
43.27°
Argument of periapsis
10.94°
Epoch · J2000
2453813.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 354.0 LD
0.9096 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.943

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
107
Data arc
19.14 years
First observed
20 November 2003
Last observed
11 January 2023
Residual RMS
0.66 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18.3
13.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 224P · 224P/2003 XD10 · 224P/2009 Q2

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2077-08-12 21:58:00 Juptr 1.9438 AU 756.5 LD 6.1 km/s
2089-08-13 14:12:00 Juptr 0.6647 AU 258.7 LD 3.5 km/s
2101-09-01 19:01:00 Juptr 1.2112 AU 471.4 LD 5.7 km/s
2172-11-28 08:23:00 Juptr 1.1521 AU 448.4 LD 3.9 km/s
2184-08-28 17:03:00 Juptr 0.7164 AU 278.8 LD 3.6 km/s
2196-10-19 19:13:00 Juptr 1.8071 AU 703.3 LD 7.4 km/s

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

Sources