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Comet

McNaught

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284P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.32 AU
True anomaly
224.07°
Distance from Earth
5.3 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 — 4.32 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 5.3 AU from Earth today (44.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 06m 06s
Declination
-03° 20′ 52″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
8.9° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
3.673 AU
Eccentricity
0.3757
Inclination
11.86°
Orbital period
7.04 years
Perihelion
2.293 AU
Aphelion
5.052 AU
Longitude of ascending node
144.29°
Argument of periapsis
202.77°
Epoch · J2000
2458321.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 502.1 LD
1.2903 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.941

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,370
Data arc
10.76 years
First observed
1 May 2013
Last observed
4 February 2024
Residual RMS
0.53 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
21 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 17
9.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 284P · 284P/2007 H1 · 284P/2013 J1

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-10-15 07:53:00 Juptr 1.2745 AU 496.0 LD 5.1 km/s
2087-02-13 18:04:00 Juptr 0.5166 AU 201.0 LD 3.5 km/s
2146-09-25 12:14:00 Juptr 1.7075 AU 664.5 LD 6.8 km/s
2158-03-12 01:54:00 Juptr 0.58 AU 225.7 LD 4 km/s

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

Sources