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Comet Near-Earth

LINEAR

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294P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.685 AU
True anomaly
137.47°
Distance from Earth
3.194 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 LINEAR — 3.685 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 3.194 AU from Earth today (26.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 46m 27s
Declination
-13° 11′ 38″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
3.2 AU
Elongation from the Sun
111.41° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.203 AU
Eccentricity
0.5952
Inclination
18.21°
Orbital period
5.73 years
Perihelion
1.297 AU
Aphelion
5.11 AU
Longitude of ascending node
312.81°
Argument of periapsis
235.35°
Epoch · J2000
2456228.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 153.7 LD
0.3949 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.822

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
275
Data arc
18.56 years
First observed
13 January 2008
Last observed
4 August 2026
Residual RMS
0.5 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 August 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 294P · 294P/2008 A2 · 294P/2013 X2

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 14 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2035-03-19 15:56:00 Juptr 1.6382 AU 637.5 LD 7.6 km/s
2105-06-07 09:41:00 Juptr 1.8132 AU 705.6 LD 11.9 km/s
2116-12-31 10:50:00 Juptr 1.0691 AU 416.1 LD 8 km/s
2129-01-11 19:28:00 Juptr 1.298 AU 505.2 LD 5.9 km/s
2132-03-30 16:45:00 Mars 0.0913 AU 35.5 LD 16.5 km/s
2141-12-12 21:59:00 Juptr 1.458 AU 567.4 LD 6.4 km/s
2153-10-05 23:40:00 Juptr 1.8821 AU 732.5 LD 10.4 km/s
2171-09-29 18:12:00 Mars 0.0743 AU 28.9 LD 15.4 km/s

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

Sources