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Comet

Read

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238P/Read

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.255 AU
True anomaly
249.3°
Distance from Earth
3.763 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 Read — 3.255 AU from the Sun Read
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Read is 3.763 AU from Earth today (31.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 38m 07s
Declination
-22° 42′ 56″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
3.77 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.22° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.166 AU
Eccentricity
0.2517
Inclination
1.26°
Orbital period
5.63 years
Perihelion
2.369 AU
Aphelion
3.963 AU
Longitude of ascending node
51.63°
Argument of periapsis
324.21°
Epoch · J2000
2459837.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 533.2 LD
1.3702 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.153

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
119
Data arc
17.09 years
First observed
22 November 2005
Last observed
24 December 2022
Residual RMS
0.47 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
30 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
8.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 29.8
8.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 238P · 238P/2005 U1 · 238P/2010 N2

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2054-08-15 15:10:00 Juptr 1.8135 AU 705.8 LD 1.9 km/s
2065-07-10 14:30:00 Juptr 1.5889 AU 618.3 LD 1 km/s
2076-07-09 05:57:00 Juptr 1.5366 AU 598.0 LD 0.9 km/s
2087-06-29 12:05:00 Juptr 1.6713 AU 650.4 LD 1.3 km/s
2098-05-14 08:46:00 Juptr 1.9394 AU 754.7 LD 2.5 km/s
2185-05-09 03:38:00 Juptr 1.7948 AU 698.5 LD 1.9 km/s
2196-04-02 20:02:00 Juptr 1.578 AU 614.1 LD 1 km/s

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

Sources