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Comet

Catalina-PANSTARRS

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299P/Catalina-PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.847 AU
True anomaly
126.4°
Distance from Earth
4.008 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 Catalina-PANSTARRS — 4.847 AU from the Sun Catalina-PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina-PANSTARRS is 4.008 AU from Earth today (33.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 21m 50s
Declination
+09° 41′ 46″
Constellation
Pegasus
Distance from Earth
4.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
143.17° — 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
4.385 AU
Eccentricity
0.2815
Inclination
10.47°
Orbital period
9.18 years
Perihelion
3.151 AU
Aphelion
5.62 AU
Longitude of ascending node
271.63°
Argument of periapsis
323.89°
Epoch · J2000
2459349.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 835.6 LD
2.1471 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.919

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
908
Data arc
39.67 years
First observed
31 January 1987
Last observed
2 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.68 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
6.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 17
6.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 299P · 299P/2005 EL284 · 299P/2014 D2

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2049-02-10 04:32:00 Juptr 1.1039 AU 429.6 LD 7.2 km/s
2106-04-10 16:41:00 Juptr 1.6809 AU 654.2 LD 7.5 km/s
2191-06-17 00:22:00 Juptr 1.3896 AU 540.8 LD 7.9 km/s

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

Sources