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Comet

PANSTARRS

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380P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.851 AU
True anomaly
239.4°
Distance from Earth
4.668 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 PANSTARRS — 4.851 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.668 AU from Earth today (38.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
07h 43m 20s
Declination
+16° 54′ 37″
Constellation
Gemini
Distance from Earth
4.65 AU
Elongation from the Sun
95.36° — 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
4.528 AU
Eccentricity
0.3264
Inclination
8.23°
Orbital period
9.63 years
Perihelion
3.05 AU
Aphelion
6.006 AU
Longitude of ascending node
133.11°
Argument of periapsis
90.06°
Epoch · J2000
2458416.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 801.1 LD
2.0585 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.894

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
266
Data arc
10.35 years
First observed
26 February 2009
Last observed
3 July 2019
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 February 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 20
7.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 380P · 380P/2011 O2 · 380P/2019 G1

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2119-06-25 11:58:00 Juptr 0.826 AU 321.5 LD 3.5 km/s
2163-09-24 22:27:00 Juptr 0.3271 AU 127.3 LD 4.8 km/s
2163-09-24 22:27:00 Jupiter 0.3271 AU 127.3 LD 4.8 km/s

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

Sources