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Comet

LINEAR-Catalina

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329P/LINEAR-Catalina

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.619 AU
True anomaly
250.3°
Distance from Earth
3.424 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 LINEAR-Catalina — 3.619 AU from the Sun LINEAR-Catalina
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-Catalina is 3.424 AU from Earth today (28.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 40m 26s
Declination
-36° 50′ 39″
Constellation
Microscopium
Distance from Earth
3.43 AU
Elongation from the Sun
92.5° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
5.189 AU
Eccentricity
0.6801
Inclination
21.47°
Orbital period
11.82 years
Perihelion
1.66 AU
Aphelion
8.718 AU
Longitude of ascending node
88.79°
Argument of periapsis
342.31°
Epoch · J2000
2456426.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 266.2 LD
0.6841 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.365

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
688
Data arc
12.37 years
First observed
18 November 2003
Last observed
31 March 2016
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 June 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
8.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 36.5
8.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 329P · 329P/2003 WC7 · 329P/2015 T1

Named

Close approaches 18 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-08-01 13:11:00 Juptr 1.6575 AU 645.0 LD 9.6 km/s
2041-06-05 20:10:00 Juptr 1.6542 AU 643.8 LD 9.1 km/s
2046-01-02 09:43:00 Satrn 1.5229 AU 592.7 LD 4.5 km/s
2053-04-20 17:40:00 Juptr 1.7037 AU 663.0 LD 8.4 km/s
2065-04-01 04:51:00 Juptr 1.9508 AU 759.2 LD 7.4 km/s
2139-01-07 10:27:00 Juptr 1.6309 AU 634.7 LD 7.5 km/s
2150-12-28 10:00:00 Juptr 1.2721 AU 495.1 LD 8.1 km/s
2162-11-15 02:57:00 Juptr 1.2041 AU 468.6 LD 8.4 km/s
2174-09-28 12:54:00 Juptr 1.3577 AU 528.4 LD 7.9 km/s
2186-06-20 15:26:00 Juptr 1.9225 AU 748.2 LD 7.2 km/s

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

Sources