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Comet Near-Earth

LINEAR

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249P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.761 AU
True anomaly
170.78°
Distance from Earth
4.976 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 — 4.761 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.976 AU from Earth today (41.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 29m 51s
Declination
+12° 09′ 10″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
4.97 AU
Elongation from the Sun
72.31° — 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
2.77 AU
Eccentricity
0.8187
Inclination
8.4°
Orbital period
4.61 years
Perihelion
0.502 AU
Aphelion
5.038 AU
Longitude of ascending node
239.85°
Argument of periapsis
64.81°
Epoch · J2000
2456863.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 18.8 LD
0.0482 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.707

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
884
Data arc
14.25 years
First observed
19 October 2006
Last observed
18 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
3 January 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
18.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
18.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 249P · 249P/2006 U1 · 249P/2011 A4

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 44 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of LINEAR at 2029-11-03 23:32 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-11-03 23:32 UTC close approach of LINEAR. Catalogue miss distance 22.2 LD · 8.53 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-10-31 to 2029-11-06, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 1 Nov 6 Nov 22.2 LD · 8.53 × 10⁶ km 2029-11-03 23:32 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2029-11-03 23:32 UTC close approach of LINEAR. Catalogue miss distance 22.2 LD · 8.53 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2029-10-31 to 2029-11-06, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-11-03 23:32:00 Earth 0.057 AU 22.2 LD 26.9 km/s
2034-04-06 01:55:00 Earth 0.3034 AU 118.1 LD 34.6 km/s
2039-01-30 16:53:00 Venus 0.1227 AU 47.7 LD 21.9 km/s
2043-09-15 00:58:00 Earth 0.4205 AU 163.6 LD 19.8 km/s
2050-01-07 10:25:00 Juptr 0.772 AU 300.5 LD 7.9 km/s
2057-10-08 07:00:00 Earth 0.2911 AU 113.3 LD 17.4 km/s
2062-03-29 19:57:00 Earth 0.4665 AU 181.5 LD 39.5 km/s
2071-11-04 02:53:00 Earth 0.0612 AU 23.8 LD 27.3 km/s
2073-11-19 15:50:00 Juptr 0.7211 AU 280.6 LD 7.3 km/s
2076-04-23 10:41:00 Earth 0.0504 AU 19.6 LD 24.2 km/s

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

Sources