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Comet Near-Earth

PANSTARRS

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364P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.393 AU
True anomaly
198.08°
Distance from Earth
4.287 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 — 4.393 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.287 AU from Earth today (35.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 28m 25s
Declination
+31° 32′ 27″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
4.27 AU
Elongation from the Sun
90.1° — 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
2.878 AU
Eccentricity
0.7226
Inclination
12.15°
Orbital period
4.88 years
Perihelion
0.799 AU
Aphelion
4.958 AU
Longitude of ascending node
46.22°
Argument of periapsis
211.97°
Epoch · J2000
2458898.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 33.7 LD
0.0866 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.813

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,487
Data arc
10.84 years
First observed
1 February 2013
Last observed
6 December 2023
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
21 June 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.3
17.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 364P · 364P/2013 CU129 · 364P/2018 A2

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 40 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of PANSTARRS at 2028-03-16 19:20 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-03-16 19:20 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 194.0 LD · 7.46 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-03-13 to 2028-03-19, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 194.0 LD · 7.46 × 10⁷ km 2028-03-16 19:20 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2028-03-16 19:20 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 194.0 LD · 7.46 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2028-03-13 to 2028-03-19, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2028-03-16 19:20:00 Earth 0.4986 AU 194.0 LD 31 km/s
2060-09-19 22:01:00 Juptr 0.7202 AU 280.3 LD 7.1 km/s
2072-08-10 20:33:00 Earth 0.1789 AU 69.6 LD 16.5 km/s
2077-03-29 00:06:00 Earth 0.1603 AU 62.4 LD 22.6 km/s
2084-01-02 02:32:00 Juptr 0.5909 AU 230.0 LD 7.2 km/s
2120-02-24 11:47:00 Juptr 1.2321 AU 479.5 LD 9.9 km/s
2126-08-28 14:06:00 Earth 0.1882 AU 73.2 LD 22.3 km/s
2131-05-11 16:54:00 Earth 0.2011 AU 78.2 LD 14.4 km/s
2131-08-17 06:13:00 Mars 0.0638 AU 24.8 LD 17.9 km/s
2143-08-21 14:17:00 Juptr 0.6149 AU 239.3 LD 6.6 km/s

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

Sources