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Comet

PANSTARRS

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365P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.004 AU
True anomaly
182.83°
Distance from Earth
4.326 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 — 5.004 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.326 AU from Earth today (36.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
22h 13m 38s
Declination
-22° 21′ 56″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
4.33 AU
Elongation from the Sun
127.39° — 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
3.186 AU
Eccentricity
0.5733
Inclination
9.84°
Orbital period
5.69 years
Perihelion
1.359 AU
Aphelion
5.012 AU
Longitude of ascending node
87.44°
Argument of periapsis
66.4°
Epoch · J2000
2458101.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 159.9 LD
0.411 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.897

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
403
Data arc
6.52 years
First observed
24 November 2011
Last observed
2 June 2018
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11
17

Discovery & classification

Also known as 365P · 365P/2011 WG113 · 365P/2017 U6

Named

Close approaches 15 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of PANSTARRS at 2046-02-27 21:55 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-02-27 21:55 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 161.3 LD · 6.2 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-02-24 to 2046-03-02, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 161.3 LD · 6.2 × 10⁷ km 2046-02-27 21:55 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2046-02-27 21:55 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 161.3 LD · 6.2 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2046-02-24 to 2046-03-02, 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. At closest approach the object is north of the ecliptic. 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
2046-02-27 21:55:00 Earth 0.4146 AU 161.3 LD 3.8 km/s
2085-02-25 07:26:00 Earth 0.4045 AU 157.4 LD 3.3 km/s
2092-07-31 04:05:00 Juptr 0.9937 AU 386.7 LD 7.9 km/s
2102-02-09 21:41:00 Mars 0.0833 AU 32.4 LD 11.1 km/s
2104-06-14 05:01:00 Juptr 0.6541 AU 254.6 LD 6 km/s
2116-04-07 04:53:00 Juptr 0.7629 AU 296.9 LD 6.7 km/s
2128-04-21 15:09:00 Juptr 1.9304 AU 751.3 LD 11 km/s
2200-06-18 09:15:00 Juptr 1.0924 AU 425.1 LD 8.3 km/s

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

Sources