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Comet

LONEOS-Christensen

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316P/LONEOS-Christensen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.299 AU
True anomaly
97.39°
Distance from Earth
5.152 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-Christensen — 4.299 AU from the Sun LONEOS-Christensen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS-Christensen is 5.152 AU from Earth today (42.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 56m 51s
Declination
-08° 08′ 48″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.15 AU
Elongation from the Sun
28.46° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.327 AU
Eccentricity
0.1664
Inclination
9.88°
Orbital period
9 years
Perihelion
3.607 AU
Aphelion
5.046 AU
Longitude of ascending node
246.93°
Argument of periapsis
191.67°
Epoch · J2000
2454347.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,020.5 LD
2.6223 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.974

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
128
Data arc
11.48 years
First observed
11 September 2005
Last observed
4 March 2017
Residual RMS
0.73 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 316P · 316P/2005 RV25 · 316P/2014 U5

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2063-07-10 01:02:00 Juptr 1.4509 AU 564.6 LD 1.7 km/s
2066-07-07 02:30:00 Juptr 1.3573 AU 528.2 LD 4.2 km/s
2096-11-15 13:07:00 Juptr 1.7859 AU 695.0 LD 5.1 km/s
2126-01-18 10:35:00 Juptr 1.8343 AU 713.9 LD 6.3 km/s
2130-05-30 21:39:00 Juptr 1.4267 AU 555.2 LD 4.3 km/s
2166-06-10 10:11:00 Juptr 1.3717 AU 533.8 LD 4.4 km/s

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

Sources