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Comet

LONEOS

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376P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.872 AU
True anomaly
179.25°
Distance from Earth
8.032 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 LONEOS — 8.872 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 8.032 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 04m 37s
Declination
+22° 05′ 25″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
8.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
146.79° — 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
5.857 AU
Eccentricity
0.5148
Inclination
1.19°
Orbital period
14.18 years
Perihelion
2.842 AU
Aphelion
8.873 AU
Longitude of ascending node
315.16°
Argument of periapsis
285.48°
Epoch · J2000
2455465.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 712.6 LD
1.831 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.707

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
478
Data arc
16.42 years
First observed
2 April 2005
Last observed
4 September 2021
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 September 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 14.8
9.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 376P · 376P/2005 GF8 · 376P/2018 X1

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2086-01-09 06:42:00 Juptr 0.7289 AU 283.7 LD 5.9 km/s
2104-09-11 13:17:00 Juptr 1.226 AU 477.1 LD 4.6 km/s
2156-11-04 17:37:00 Jupiter 0.1251 AU 48.7 LD 8.1 km/s
2156-11-04 17:37:00 Juptr 0.1251 AU 48.7 LD 8.1 km/s

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

Sources