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Comet Near-Earth

McNaught-Russell

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262P/McNaught-Russell

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
10.195 AU
True anomaly
198.77°
Distance from Earth
11.081 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth McNaught-Russell — 10.195 AU from the Sun McNaught-Russell
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught-Russell is 11.081 AU from Earth today (1.5 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 52m 48s
Declination
-11° 54′ 06″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
11.08 AU
Elongation from the Sun
25.68° — 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
6.935 AU
Eccentricity
0.8154
Inclination
29.08°
Orbital period
18.26 years
Perihelion
1.28 AU
Aphelion
12.59 AU
Longitude of ascending node
218.01°
Argument of periapsis
171.17°
Epoch · J2000
2455919.5
Orbit class · JFC
Jupiter-family comet (2 < T_J < 3)
Earth MOID · 113.2 LD
0.2908 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.918

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,339
Data arc
18.36 years
First observed
12 December 1994
Last observed
22 April 2013
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6.5
14.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 262P · 1994 XXIV · 1994u · 262P/1994 X1 · 262P/2012 K7

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 1 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2043-06-21 05:52:00 Satrn 1.5955 AU 620.9 LD 7 km/s

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

Sources