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Comet

Boattini

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398P/Boattini

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.665 AU
True anomaly
65.53°
Distance from Earth
2.467 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 Boattini — 1.665 AU from the Sun Boattini
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Boattini is 2.467 AU from Earth today (20.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 28m 39s
Declination
+06° 55′ 47″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
2.47 AU
Elongation from the Sun
29.18° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
3.128 AU
Eccentricity
0.5826
Inclination
11.02°
Orbital period
5.53 years
Perihelion
1.306 AU
Aphelion
4.95 AU
Longitude of ascending node
127.46°
Argument of periapsis
320.23°
Epoch · J2000
2459166.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 134.7 LD
0.346 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.901

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
1,649
Data arc
11.06 years
First observed
25 July 2014
Last observed
17 August 2025
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Shantanu Naidu
28 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11.5
15.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 398P · 398P/2009 Q4 · 398P/2020 P2

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2067-01-31 15:04:00 Juptr 1.635 AU 636.3 LD 8.4 km/s
2079-01-30 01:13:00 Juptr 0.7266 AU 282.8 LD 4.9 km/s
2091-02-27 18:25:00 Juptr 0.5524 AU 215.0 LD 4.6 km/s
2102-09-30 14:03:00 Juptr 1.0577 AU 411.6 LD 5.7 km/s
2174-04-17 18:52:00 Juptr 1.6125 AU 627.5 LD 8.2 km/s
2186-04-26 02:35:00 Juptr 0.3904 AU 151.9 LD 5.2 km/s
2186-04-26 02:35:00 Jupiter 0.3904 AU 151.9 LD 5.2 km/s
2198-03-18 04:04:00 Juptr 0.6972 AU 271.3 LD 5.9 km/s

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

Sources