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Comet

NEAT

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368P/NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.531 AU
True anomaly
194.04°
Distance from Earth
9.508 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth NEAT — 8.531 AU from the Sun NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEAT is 9.508 AU from Earth today (1.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 43m 58s
Declination
-21° 34′ 02″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
9.51 AU
Elongation from the Sun
10.22° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
5.504 AU
Eccentricity
0.6285
Inclination
15.45°
Orbital period
12.91 years
Perihelion
2.044 AU
Aphelion
8.963 AU
Longitude of ascending node
258.17°
Argument of periapsis
118.81°
Epoch · J2000
2456083.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 427.5 LD
1.0986 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.487

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
784
Data arc
13.6 years
First observed
5 July 2005
Last observed
8 February 2019
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 8.3
14.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 368P · 368P/2005 R1 · 368P/2018 L3

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-12-16 09:46:00 Jupiter 0.2359 AU 91.8 LD 8.9 km/s
2042-12-16 09:46:00 Juptr 0.2359 AU 91.8 LD 8.9 km/s
2113-09-21 01:48:00 Juptr 1.1579 AU 450.6 LD 11.5 km/s
2144-05-23 19:56:00 Juptr 1.5529 AU 604.3 LD 7.6 km/s

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

Sources