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Comet

Scotti

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431P/Scotti

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.266 AU
True anomaly
217.85°
Distance from Earth
4.819 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 Scotti — 4.266 AU from the Sun Scotti
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Scotti is 4.819 AU from Earth today (40.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 34m 44s
Declination
-05° 08′ 41″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
4.83 AU
Elongation from the Sun
50.72° — 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
3.442 AU
Eccentricity
0.488
Inclination
22.67°
Orbital period
6.39 years
Perihelion
1.763 AU
Aphelion
5.122 AU
Longitude of ascending node
203.27°
Argument of periapsis
199.44°
Epoch · J2000
2457972.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 304.2 LD
0.7817 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.822

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
519
Data arc
19.29 years
First observed
16 November 2002
Last observed
1 March 2022
Residual RMS
0.71 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
2 January 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.8
12

Discovery & classification

Also known as 431P · 431P/2015 Q1 · 431P/2021 P5

Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2077-02-15 18:35:00 Juptr 0.8144 AU 316.9 LD 5.4 km/s
2088-12-04 22:32:00 Juptr 0.7334 AU 285.4 LD 6.7 km/s
2148-06-11 10:21:00 Juptr 1.1251 AU 437.9 LD 5.4 km/s
2160-01-29 08:00:00 Juptr 0.7363 AU 286.6 LD 6.7 km/s

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

Sources