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Comet

PANSTARRS

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426P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.688 AU
True anomaly
190.35°
Distance from Earth
4.537 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 — 3.688 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.537 AU from Earth today (37.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 34m 58s
Declination
-26° 44′ 00″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
4.54 AU
Elongation from the Sun
27.81° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
3.187 AU
Eccentricity
0.1608
Inclination
17.77°
Orbital period
5.69 years
Perihelion
2.674 AU
Aphelion
3.699 AU
Longitude of ascending node
280.52°
Argument of periapsis
119.4°
Epoch · J2000
2458779.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 674.9 LD
1.7342 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.104

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
123
Data arc
6.2 years
First observed
1 October 2017
Last observed
13 December 2023
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 July 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 426P · 426P/2019 A7 · 426P/2021 K4

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2067-09-27 23:53:00 Juptr 1.8699 AU 727.7 LD 5.5 km/s
2078-12-18 04:12:00 Juptr 1.8395 AU 715.9 LD 5.3 km/s
2090-03-11 08:54:00 Juptr 1.9532 AU 760.1 LD 4.8 km/s

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

Sources