Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

McNaught

Add to an observing list or journal →

278P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.291 AU
True anomaly
258.43°
Distance from Earth
3.917 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 McNaught — 3.291 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 3.917 AU from Earth today (32.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 09m 06s
Declination
+09° 39′ 15″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
3.91 AU
Elongation from the Sun
45.34° — 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
3.7 AU
Eccentricity
0.4334
Inclination
6.68°
Orbital period
7.12 years
Perihelion
2.096 AU
Aphelion
5.303 AU
Longitude of ascending node
15.49°
Argument of periapsis
237.92°
Epoch · J2000
2457181.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 424.7 LD
1.0912 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.916

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
519
Data arc
15.31 years
First observed
22 May 2006
Last observed
11 September 2021
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
20 September 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.8
12.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 278P · 278P/2006 K2 · 278P/2013 B1

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2071-11-02 01:21:00 Juptr 0.5214 AU 202.9 LD 4.2 km/s
2108-04-24 10:05:00 Juptr 1.5777 AU 614.0 LD 9.1 km/s
2119-01-01 04:44:00 Juptr 1.4132 AU 550.0 LD 8.3 km/s
2155-04-24 08:42:00 Juptr 0.5145 AU 200.2 LD 4.1 km/s
2191-04-23 01:02:00 Jupiter 0.3081 AU 119.9 LD 5.3 km/s
2191-04-23 01:02:00 Juptr 0.3081 AU 119.9 LD 5.3 km/s

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

Sources