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Comet

LONEOS

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267P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.98 AU
True anomaly
164.56°
Distance from Earth
5.649 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 LONEOS — 4.98 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 5.649 AU from Earth today (47.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 19m 32s
Declination
+05° 24′ 20″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
5.64 AU
Elongation from the Sun
44.53° — 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
3.29 AU
Eccentricity
0.5934
Inclination
5.37°
Orbital period
5.97 years
Perihelion
1.338 AU
Aphelion
5.242 AU
Longitude of ascending node
245.25°
Argument of periapsis
96.86°
Epoch · J2000
2454368.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 134.8 LD
0.3464 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.856

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
197
Data arc
12.22 years
First observed
29 August 2006
Last observed
17 November 2018
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
20.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 267P · 267P/2006 Q2 · 267P/2012 R1

Named

Close approaches 17 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of LONEOS at 2035-08-29 14:16 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2035-08-29 14:16 UTC close approach of LONEOS. Catalogue miss distance 99.0 LD · 3.81 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2035-08-26 to 2035-09-01, 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 99.0 LD · 3.81 × 10⁷ km 2035-08-29 14:16 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2035-08-29 14:16 UTC close approach of LONEOS. Catalogue miss distance 99.0 LD · 3.81 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2035-08-26 to 2035-09-01, 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
2028-02-21 00:00:00 Juptr 1.3022 AU 506.8 LD 7.8 km/s
2035-08-29 14:16:00 Earth 0.2545 AU 99.0 LD 7 km/s
2074-08-03 02:05:00 Earth 0.4659 AU 181.3 LD 15.7 km/s
2098-10-13 18:21:00 Juptr 1.4978 AU 582.9 LD 8 km/s
2102-09-10 07:04:00 Earth 0.2469 AU 96.1 LD 5.1 km/s
2110-08-01 21:27:00 Juptr 0.8481 AU 330.0 LD 5.5 km/s
2122-06-17 01:20:00 Juptr 0.8442 AU 328.5 LD 5.4 km/s
2134-05-23 00:25:00 Juptr 1.636 AU 636.7 LD 8.1 km/s

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

Sources