Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

McNaught

Add to an observing list or journal →

372P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.22 AU
True anomaly
285°
Distance from Earth
4.662 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 McNaught — 4.22 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 4.662 AU from Earth today (38.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 47m 31s
Declination
-29° 43′ 46″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
4.67 AU
Elongation from the Sun
57.45° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.494 AU
Eccentricity
0.1535
Inclination
9.52°
Orbital period
9.53 years
Perihelion
3.804 AU
Aphelion
5.183 AU
Longitude of ascending node
325.86°
Argument of periapsis
27.46°
Epoch · J2000
2454936.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,090.4 LD
2.8019 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.969

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
438
Data arc
11.31 years
First observed
28 July 2008
Last observed
19 November 2019
Residual RMS
0.7 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.5
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 372P · 372P/2008 O2 · 372P/2018 P6

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2051-04-14 04:47:00 Juptr 0.8346 AU 324.8 LD 3.6 km/s
2057-05-25 17:41:00 Jupiter 0.4638 AU 180.5 LD 2.8 km/s
2057-05-25 17:41:00 Juptr 0.4638 AU 180.5 LD 2.8 km/s
2133-11-03 19:44:00 Juptr 1.1606 AU 451.7 LD 2.3 km/s
2140-07-11 11:58:00 Juptr 1.2234 AU 476.1 LD 4.3 km/s

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

Sources