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Comet

PANSTARRS

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419P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.784 AU
True anomaly
239.55°
Distance from Earth
3.893 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 PANSTARRS — 3.784 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 3.893 AU from Earth today (32.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 20m 17s
Declination
+22° 07′ 05″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
3.88 AU
Elongation from the Sun
76.9° — 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
3.524 AU
Eccentricity
0.2785
Inclination
2.8°
Orbital period
6.61 years
Perihelion
2.542 AU
Aphelion
4.505 AU
Longitude of ascending node
40.43°
Argument of periapsis
187.26°
Epoch · J2000
2457915.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 596.6 LD
1.5329 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.056

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
297
Data arc
7.66 years
First observed
24 January 2015
Last observed
22 September 2022
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
29 October 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 23.3
7.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 419P · 419P/2015 F1 · 419P/2021 A11

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2071-06-18 12:13:00 Juptr 0.8526 AU 331.8 LD 3.1 km/s
2107-08-11 12:32:00 Juptr 1.1078 AU 431.1 LD 2.7 km/s
2108-09-06 01:23:00 Juptr 1.1076 AU 431.0 LD 0.1 km/s
2128-05-11 23:34:00 Juptr 1.3743 AU 534.8 LD 2 km/s
2167-12-30 04:44:00 Juptr 0.9629 AU 374.7 LD 0.2 km/s
2192-02-28 21:02:00 Juptr 0.6639 AU 258.4 LD 0.5 km/s

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

Sources