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Comet

LONEOS

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315P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.243 AU
True anomaly
255.2°
Distance from Earth
3.274 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 LONEOS — 4.243 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 3.274 AU from Earth today (27.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 26m 34s
Declination
-00° 25′ 21″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
3.27 AU
Elongation from the Sun
165.31° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
5.023 AU
Eccentricity
0.5164
Inclination
17.91°
Orbital period
11.26 years
Perihelion
2.429 AU
Aphelion
7.617 AU
Longitude of ascending node
69.6°
Argument of periapsis
66.95°
Epoch · J2000
2456241.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 586.4 LD
1.5068 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.637

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,381
Data arc
21.94 years
First observed
3 November 2004
Last observed
13 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.8
10.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 315P · 315P/2004 VR8 · 315P/2013 V6

Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2058-12-24 12:23:00 Juptr 1.1171 AU 434.7 LD 7.4 km/s
2185-09-08 14:23:00 Juptr 1.2203 AU 474.9 LD 11 km/s
2197-03-03 07:49:00 Juptr 0.5708 AU 222.1 LD 7.5 km/s

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

Sources