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Comet

LINEAR

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285P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.058 AU
True anomaly
168.29°
Distance from Earth
7.881 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 LINEAR — 7.058 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 7.881 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 43m 47s
Declination
-03° 41′ 28″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
7.88 AU
Elongation from the Sun
32.68° — 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
4.509 AU
Eccentricity
0.6179
Inclination
25.02°
Orbital period
9.58 years
Perihelion
1.723 AU
Aphelion
7.295 AU
Longitude of ascending node
185.48°
Argument of periapsis
178.4°
Epoch · J2000
2458908.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 280.1 LD
0.7198 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.48

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
933
Data arc
19.31 years
First observed
19 September 2003
Last observed
9 January 2023
Residual RMS
0.75 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 June 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
13.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 285P · 285P/2003 U2 · 285P/2013 K2

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-05-12 17:37:00 Juptr 1.4439 AU 561.9 LD 7 km/s
2076-01-28 19:58:00 Juptr 1.8784 AU 731.0 LD 6.9 km/s
2122-11-08 15:03:00 Juptr 1.7115 AU 666.1 LD 6.9 km/s
2136-04-28 08:55:00 Juptr 1.2416 AU 483.2 LD 8.9 km/s
2170-04-04 15:10:00 Juptr 1.6298 AU 634.3 LD 6.9 km/s
2183-09-08 03:41:00 Juptr 1.4196 AU 552.5 LD 9.8 km/s

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

Sources