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Comet Near-Earth

McNaught

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320P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.57 AU
True anomaly
85.43°
Distance from Earth
0.586 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 McNaught — 1.57 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 0.586 AU from Earth today (4.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 23m 34s
Declination
+22° 56′ 21″
Constellation
Pisces
Distance from Earth
0.59 AU
Elongation from the Sun
164.19° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
3.101 AU
Eccentricity
0.6829
Inclination
4.9°
Orbital period
5.46 years
Perihelion
0.983 AU
Aphelion
5.219 AU
Longitude of ascending node
295.96°
Argument of periapsis
0.6°
Epoch · J2000
2456461.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 11.2 LD
0.0287 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.802

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
138
Data arc
22.09 years
First observed
2 September 2004
Last observed
6 October 2026
Residual RMS
0.73 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 October 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
19.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 12
19.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 320P · 320P/2004 R1 · 320P/2015 HC10

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2049-09-30 18:32:00 Juptr 1.662 AU 646.8 LD 10.6 km/s
2061-07-06 18:31:00 Jupiter 0.123 AU 47.9 LD 7 km/s
2061-07-06 18:50:00 Juptr 0.1229 AU 47.8 LD 7 km/s
2098-04-06 17:59:00 Juptr 1.4469 AU 563.1 LD 9.3 km/s
2108-12-05 12:34:00 Jupiter 0.2615 AU 101.8 LD 6.7 km/s
2108-12-05 13:41:00 Juptr 0.2637 AU 102.6 LD 6.7 km/s

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

Sources