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Comet

LINEAR-NEAT

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231P/LINEAR-NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.283 AU
True anomaly
307.95°
Distance from Earth
3.501 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-NEAT — 3.283 AU from the Sun LINEAR-NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-NEAT is 3.501 AU from Earth today (29.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 28m 18s
Declination
+12° 55′ 05″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
3.49 AU
Elongation from the Sun
69.6° — 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
4.026 AU
Eccentricity
0.2468
Inclination
12.33°
Orbital period
8.08 years
Perihelion
3.032 AU
Aphelion
5.02 AU
Longitude of ascending node
133.08°
Argument of periapsis
42.43°
Epoch · J2000
2456088.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 799.1 LD
2.0534 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.958

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
576
Data arc
70.18 years
First observed
20 April 1950
Last observed
26 June 2020
Residual RMS
0.79 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 20.3
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 231P · 231P/2003 CP7 · 231P/2009 X1

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2082-05-11 13:03:00 Juptr 1.9048 AU 741.3 LD 7.3 km/s
2102-05-15 19:31:00 Juptr 1.9523 AU 759.8 LD 3.2 km/s
2106-01-25 17:36:00 Juptr 1.5072 AU 586.6 LD 6 km/s
2187-10-01 04:14:00 Juptr 0.9165 AU 356.7 LD 6 km/s
2192-01-29 23:53:00 Juptr 1.7334 AU 674.6 LD 4.6 km/s

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

Sources