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Comet

LINEAR

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345P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.295 AU
True anomaly
118.09°
Distance from Earth
4.233 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 — 4.295 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 4.233 AU from Earth today (35.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 17m 24s
Declination
+17° 40′ 14″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
4.23 AU
Elongation from the Sun
87.33° — well clear of the Sun

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
4.046 AU
Eccentricity
0.2195
Inclination
2.72°
Orbital period
8.14 years
Perihelion
3.158 AU
Aphelion
4.934 AU
Longitude of ascending node
154.52°
Argument of periapsis
196.47°
Epoch · J2000
2457623.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 837.4 LD
2.1518 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.005

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
190
Data arc
16.11 years
First observed
2 September 2008
Last observed
11 October 2024
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
19 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 345P · 345P/2008 SH164 · 345P/2016 Q3

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-11-27 07:51:00 Juptr 1.1583 AU 450.8 LD 1.5 km/s
2059-06-14 22:19:00 Juptr 1.3386 AU 520.9 LD 2.9 km/s
2089-06-29 12:55:00 Juptr 0.6181 AU 240.5 LD 0.6 km/s
2128-05-19 12:19:00 Juptr 0.5172 AU 201.3 LD 0.6 km/s

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

Sources