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Comet

NEOWISE

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417P/NEOWISE

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.667 AU
True anomaly
256.43°
Distance from Earth
3.263 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 NEOWISE — 2.667 AU from the Sun NEOWISE
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEOWISE is 3.263 AU from Earth today (27.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 23m 26s
Declination
+13° 10′ 25″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
3.25 AU
Elongation from the Sun
46.32° — 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
3.35 AU
Eccentricity
0.5546
Inclination
8.13°
Orbital period
6.13 years
Perihelion
1.492 AU
Aphelion
5.209 AU
Longitude of ascending node
111.36°
Argument of periapsis
129.4°
Epoch · J2000
2458510.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 193.4 LD
0.4968 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.875

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
277
Data arc
6.25 years
First observed
15 May 2015
Last observed
13 August 2021
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6.8
17.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 417P · 417P/2015 J3 · 417P/2021 B1

Named

Close approaches 12 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2035-09-04 12:05:00 Juptr 0.8367 AU 325.6 LD 6.3 km/s
2096-02-26 21:31:00 Juptr 0.5652 AU 220.0 LD 7.3 km/s
2107-11-30 05:53:00 Jupiter 0.2107 AU 82.0 LD 6.3 km/s
2107-11-30 05:53:00 Juptr 0.2107 AU 82.0 LD 6.3 km/s
2119-07-01 23:18:00 Juptr 0.5273 AU 205.2 LD 5.6 km/s
2190-12-11 08:12:00 Juptr 0.5774 AU 224.7 LD 7 km/s

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

Sources