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Comet

PANSTARRS

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358P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.893 AU
True anomaly
185.08°
Distance from Earth
4.863 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 PANSTARRS — 3.893 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.863 AU from Earth today (40.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 56m 50s
Declination
-04° 13′ 49″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.86 AU
Elongation from the Sun
11.98° — 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
3.147 AU
Eccentricity
0.2389
Inclination
11.06°
Orbital period
5.58 years
Perihelion
2.395 AU
Aphelion
3.898 AU
Longitude of ascending node
85.7°
Argument of periapsis
299.77°
Epoch · J2000
2459793.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 553.4 LD
1.4221 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.136

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
252
Data arc
22.14 years
First observed
9 December 2001
Last observed
31 January 2024
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
5 March 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 30
7.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 358P · 358P/2012 T1 · 358P/2017 O3

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2066-12-10 11:27:00 Juptr 1.8586 AU 723.3 LD 3.3 km/s
2077-08-17 23:26:00 Juptr 1.6782 AU 653.1 LD 2.3 km/s
2088-04-03 16:03:00 Juptr 1.7866 AU 695.3 LD 1.3 km/s
2173-09-01 23:41:00 Juptr 1.8153 AU 706.5 LD 3.1 km/s
2184-05-12 07:26:00 Juptr 1.6588 AU 645.6 LD 2.3 km/s
2194-12-29 03:52:00 Juptr 1.8147 AU 706.2 LD 1.5 km/s

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

Sources