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Comet

LINEAR-NEAT

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355P/LINEAR-NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.051 AU
True anomaly
164.7°
Distance from Earth
6.04 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 LINEAR-NEAT — 5.051 AU from the Sun LINEAR-NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-NEAT is 6.04 AU from Earth today (50.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 00m 51s
Declination
-00° 14′ 25″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
6.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
7.62° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
3.472 AU
Eccentricity
0.5081
Inclination
11.04°
Orbital period
6.47 years
Perihelion
1.708 AU
Aphelion
5.236 AU
Longitude of ascending node
51.44°
Argument of periapsis
336.4°
Epoch · J2000
2455667.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 280.5 LD
0.7206 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.88

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
962
Data arc
13.65 years
First observed
16 July 2004
Last observed
9 March 2018
Residual RMS
0.82 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 17.3
12.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 355P · 355P/2004 T1 · 355P/2017 M2

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2041-07-09 21:04:00 Juptr 1.9954 AU 776.5 LD 9 km/s
2053-07-15 00:48:00 Juptr 0.3063 AU 119.2 LD 4.7 km/s
2053-07-15 00:48:00 Jupiter 0.3063 AU 119.2 LD 4.7 km/s
2065-03-31 20:03:00 Jupiter 0.4308 AU 167.7 LD 4.7 km/s
2065-03-31 20:03:00 Juptr 0.4308 AU 167.7 LD 4.7 km/s

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

Sources