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Comet Near-Earth

Kowalski

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384P/Kowalski

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.592 AU
True anomaly
170.65°
Distance from Earth
5.586 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 Kowalski — 4.592 AU from the Sun Kowalski
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Kowalski is 5.586 AU from Earth today (46.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 16m 14s
Declination
-11° 06′ 52″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.59 AU
Elongation from the Sun
3.88° — too close to the Sun to observe

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
2.903 AU
Eccentricity
0.6154
Inclination
7.28°
Orbital period
4.95 years
Perihelion
1.116 AU
Aphelion
4.689 AU
Longitude of ascending node
354.24°
Argument of periapsis
37.62°
Epoch · J2000
2458600.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 54.6 LD
0.1402 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.96

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
740
Data arc
10.26 years
First observed
18 October 2014
Last observed
22 January 2025
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
20

Discovery & classification

Also known as 384P · 384P/2014 U2 · 384P/2019 O1

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2041-07-01 04:01:00 Juptr 1.3718 AU 533.8 LD 6.3 km/s
2077-01-29 22:36:00 Juptr 0.8926 AU 347.4 LD 4 km/s
2112-07-18 20:43:00 Juptr 1.9953 AU 776.5 LD 8 km/s
2136-06-01 16:40:00 Juptr 0.9862 AU 383.8 LD 4.6 km/s
2172-02-15 13:05:00 Juptr 0.9697 AU 377.4 LD 4.3 km/s

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

Sources