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Comet Near-Earth

LINEAR

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306P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.894 AU
True anomaly
144.65°
Distance from Earth
4.318 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 — 3.894 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.318 AU from Earth today (35.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 34m 59s
Declination
+18° 54′ 01″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
4.31 AU
Elongation from the Sun
59.14° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
3.105 AU
Eccentricity
0.5985
Inclination
8.37°
Orbital period
5.47 years
Perihelion
1.247 AU
Aphelion
4.964 AU
Longitude of ascending node
341.49°
Argument of periapsis
0.69°
Epoch · J2000
2454744.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 92.6 LD
0.2379 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.9

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
406
Data arc
22.33 years
First observed
30 July 2003
Last observed
27 November 2025
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
2 December 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
19.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
19.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 306P · 306P/2003 O3 · 306P/2014 M5

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 16 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-08-17 21:23:00 Juptr 1.0478 AU 407.8 LD 6.3 km/s
2039-08-15 17:50:00 Juptr 0.3664 AU 142.6 LD 4.5 km/s
2039-08-15 17:50:00 Jupiter 0.3664 AU 142.6 LD 4.5 km/s
2051-07-19 17:32:00 Juptr 0.3416 AU 132.9 LD 4.4 km/s
2051-07-19 17:32:00 Jupiter 0.3416 AU 132.9 LD 4.4 km/s
2063-07-08 20:47:00 Juptr 1.8322 AU 713.0 LD 8.4 km/s
2123-05-11 10:43:00 Juptr 1.2158 AU 473.2 LD 6.7 km/s
2135-01-15 04:39:00 Juptr 0.3448 AU 134.2 LD 4.2 km/s
2135-01-15 04:39:00 Jupiter 0.3448 AU 134.2 LD 4.2 km/s
2146-09-14 15:49:00 Jupiter 0.4516 AU 175.7 LD 4.3 km/s

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

Sources