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Comet

PANSTARRS

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253P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.354 AU
True anomaly
145.19°
Distance from Earth
5.197 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 PANSTARRS — 4.354 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 5.197 AU from Earth today (43.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 22m 30s
Declination
+05° 16′ 39″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
5.19 AU
Elongation from the Sun
29.79° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.469 AU
Eccentricity
0.413
Inclination
4.94°
Orbital period
6.46 years
Perihelion
2.036 AU
Aphelion
4.902 AU
Longitude of ascending node
146.88°
Argument of periapsis
230.71°
Epoch · J2000
2458607.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 404.8 LD
1.0401 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.982

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
936
Data arc
26.39 years
First observed
14 September 1998
Last observed
3 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
28 October 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 29.8
8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 253P · 253P/1998 RS22 · 253P/2011 R2

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2041-01-27 03:12:00 Juptr 0.6873 AU 267.5 LD 3 km/s
2052-12-26 02:35:00 Juptr 0.6505 AU 253.1 LD 3 km/s
2124-06-04 13:34:00 Juptr 0.9146 AU 356.0 LD 3.7 km/s
2136-05-15 05:27:00 Juptr 0.5881 AU 228.9 LD 2.8 km/s

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

Sources