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Comet

LINEAR

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237P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.033 AU
True anomaly
182.84°
Distance from Earth
4.861 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 — 5.033 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.861 AU from Earth today (40.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 58m 54s
Declination
+15° 55′ 00″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
4.85 AU
Elongation from the Sun
94.68° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.512 AU
Eccentricity
0.4344
Inclination
14.01°
Orbital period
6.58 years
Perihelion
1.987 AU
Aphelion
5.038 AU
Longitude of ascending node
245.38°
Argument of periapsis
25.24°
Epoch · J2000
2459557.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 381.1 LD
0.9792 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.917

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,268
Data arc
14.45 years
First observed
10 June 2010
Last observed
21 November 2024
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
13 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 21
7.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 237P · 237P/2002 LN13 · 237P/2010 L2

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2072-04-05 12:44:00 Jupiter 0.1922 AU 74.8 LD 5.5 km/s
2072-04-05 12:44:00 Juptr 0.1922 AU 74.8 LD 5.5 km/s
2132-02-25 08:51:00 Juptr 0.5285 AU 205.7 LD 4.1 km/s
2167-08-30 21:41:00 Juptr 0.5237 AU 203.8 LD 4.1 km/s

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

Sources