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Comet

Li

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292P/Li

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.297 AU
True anomaly
232.01°
Distance from Earth
6.664 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 Li — 6.297 AU from the Sun Li
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Li is 6.664 AU from Earth today (55.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 16m 30s
Declination
-27° 35′ 52″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
6.67 AU
Elongation from the Sun
63.49° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
6.135 AU
Eccentricity
0.5868
Inclination
24.32°
Orbital period
15.2 years
Perihelion
2.535 AU
Aphelion
9.735 AU
Longitude of ascending node
91.86°
Argument of periapsis
318.85°
Epoch · J2000
2454955.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 621.9 LD
1.5981 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.451

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
498
Data arc
19.58 years
First observed
23 September 1998
Last observed
23 April 2018
Residual RMS
0.63 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
19 May 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.5
9.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 292P · 292P/1998 Y2 · 292P/2013 O1

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2103-03-17 05:03:00 Juptr 1.6556 AU 644.3 LD 12 km/s
2162-08-17 19:43:00 Juptr 1.1054 AU 430.2 LD 10.4 km/s

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

Sources