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Comet

Lemmon

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363P/Lemmon

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.003 AU
True anomaly
162.24°
Distance from Earth
5.118 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 Lemmon — 5.003 AU from the Sun Lemmon
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon is 5.118 AU from Earth today (42.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 26m 44s
Declination
-19° 51′ 22″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
5.13 AU
Elongation from the Sun
77.19° — 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
3.405 AU
Eccentricity
0.5575
Inclination
3.97°
Orbital period
6.28 years
Perihelion
1.507 AU
Aphelion
5.304 AU
Longitude of ascending node
169.92°
Argument of periapsis
315.27°
Epoch · J2000
2457290.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 205.0 LD
0.5267 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.868

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
124
Data arc
13.4 years
First observed
3 November 2011
Last observed
27 March 2025
Residual RMS
0.71 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 12.5
17.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 363P · 363P/2011 VJ5 · 363P/2017 W1

Named

Close approaches 17 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2068-01-03 10:30:00 Juptr 0.2852 AU 111.0 LD 5.5 km/s
2068-01-03 10:30:00 Jupiter 0.2852 AU 111.0 LD 5.5 km/s
2104-08-15 00:08:00 Juptr 1.1626 AU 452.5 LD 8.3 km/s
2115-04-25 05:26:00 Juptr 0.9887 AU 384.8 LD 7.8 km/s
2151-10-09 00:23:00 Jupiter 0.2771 AU 107.8 LD 5.2 km/s
2151-10-09 00:23:00 Juptr 0.2771 AU 107.8 LD 5.2 km/s
2187-06-20 13:31:00 Jupiter 0.1971 AU 76.7 LD 5.9 km/s
2187-06-20 13:31:00 Juptr 0.1971 AU 76.7 LD 5.9 km/s

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

Sources