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Comet

McNaught

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446P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.482 AU
True anomaly
174.59°
Distance from Earth
7.832 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 McNaught — 7.482 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 7.832 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 51m 11s
Declination
+18° 53′ 31″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
7.82 AU
Elongation from the Sun
66.65° — 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
4.581 AU
Eccentricity
0.6467
Inclination
16.57°
Orbital period
9.8 years
Perihelion
1.619 AU
Aphelion
7.543 AU
Longitude of ascending node
336.43°
Argument of periapsis
344.68°
Epoch · J2000
2457030.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 238.7 LD
0.6134 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.508

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
396
Data arc
10.35 years
First observed
23 July 2012
Last observed
27 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.54 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 July 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6.8
17.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 446P · 446P/2012 O3 · 446P/2022 G2

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2036-09-17 11:38:00 Satrn 1.932 AU 751.9 LD 4.5 km/s
2040-01-23 06:25:00 Juptr 1.0279 AU 400.0 LD 10.4 km/s
2066-01-26 15:21:00 Satrn 1.7559 AU 683.3 LD 4.4 km/s
2073-08-17 05:07:00 Juptr 1.6012 AU 623.2 LD 6.6 km/s
2087-07-27 19:00:00 Juptr 0.8472 AU 329.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2120-09-19 06:47:00 Juptr 1.0959 AU 426.5 LD 8.5 km/s
2134-05-17 15:03:00 Juptr 1.8969 AU 738.2 LD 6.7 km/s
2194-04-02 03:52:00 Juptr 0.8367 AU 325.6 LD 9.1 km/s

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

Sources