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Comet

Kowalski

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425P/Kowalski

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.821 AU
True anomaly
155.28°
Distance from Earth
9.814 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 Kowalski — 8.821 AU from the Sun Kowalski
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Kowalski is 9.814 AU from Earth today (1.4 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 36m 33s
Declination
-11° 16′ 23″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
9.81 AU
Elongation from the Sun
3.99° — 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
6.34 AU
Eccentricity
0.5424
Inclination
16.43°
Orbital period
15.97 years
Perihelion
2.901 AU
Aphelion
9.779 AU
Longitude of ascending node
210.34°
Argument of periapsis
200.22°
Epoch · J2000
2457960.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 745.9 LD
1.9167 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.6

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
427
Data arc
17.32 years
First observed
30 September 2005
Last observed
25 January 2023
Residual RMS
0.66 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
1 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 20.5
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 425P · 425P/2005 W3 · 425P/2021 O2

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-10-20 09:37:00 Juptr 1.269 AU 493.9 LD 7.5 km/s
2068-08-26 10:23:00 Juptr 1.5424 AU 600.3 LD 8.5 km/s
2117-06-24 14:23:00 Juptr 1.6088 AU 626.1 LD 7.5 km/s
2190-01-20 22:50:00 Satrn 0.5058 AU 196.9 LD 3.8 km/s

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

Sources