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Comet

NEAT

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240P/NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.064 AU
True anomaly
89.39°
Distance from Earth
3.699 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 NEAT — 3.064 AU from the Sun NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEAT is 3.699 AU from Earth today (30.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 51m 23s
Declination
+21° 50′ 44″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
3.7 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.36° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.861 AU
Eccentricity
0.4503
Inclination
23.54°
Orbital period
7.59 years
Perihelion
2.123 AU
Aphelion
5.6 AU
Longitude of ascending node
74.91°
Argument of periapsis
352.03°
Epoch · J2000
2460508.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 443.5 LD
1.1396 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.758

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
4,130
Data arc
8.89 years
First observed
6 July 2017
Last observed
26 May 2026
Residual RMS
0.66 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.3
11.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 240P

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2090-03-01 02:20:00 Jupiter 0.4171 AU 162.3 LD 5.8 km/s
2173-05-24 16:43:00 Jupiter 0.3728 AU 145.1 LD 5.9 km/s

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

Sources