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Comet

LINEAR

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418P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.378 AU
True anomaly
173.37°
Distance from Earth
7.401 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 LINEAR — 8.378 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 7.401 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 20m 14s
Declination
+19° 57′ 46″
Constellation
Aries
Distance from Earth
7.4 AU
Elongation from the Sun
169.22° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
5.102 AU
Eccentricity
0.6637
Inclination
5.78°
Orbital period
11.52 years
Perihelion
1.716 AU
Aphelion
8.488 AU
Longitude of ascending node
277.86°
Argument of periapsis
306.89°
Epoch · J2000
2455962.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 278.4 LD
0.7155 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.494

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
775
Data arc
12.69 years
First observed
14 January 2010
Last observed
24 September 2022
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 October 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
13.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 418P · 418P/2010 A5 · 418P/2020 Y5

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-08-19 11:55:00 Juptr 1.3694 AU 532.9 LD 13.4 km/s
2046-04-18 16:39:00 Juptr 0.6797 AU 264.5 LD 10.9 km/s
2058-02-14 22:56:00 Juptr 0.6112 AU 237.9 LD 10.3 km/s
2070-01-14 12:48:00 Juptr 0.6887 AU 268.0 LD 10.9 km/s
2082-02-25 11:54:00 Juptr 1.4715 AU 572.7 LD 13.6 km/s
2147-10-15 20:47:00 Satrn 0.6373 AU 248.0 LD 4.4 km/s

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

Sources