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Comet

Sheppard-Tholen

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447P/Sheppard-Tholen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.222 AU
True anomaly
129.32°
Distance from Earth
6.986 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 Sheppard-Tholen — 6.222 AU from the Sun Sheppard-Tholen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Sheppard-Tholen is 6.986 AU from Earth today (58.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 25m 45s
Declination
-01° 20′ 05″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
6.98 AU
Elongation from the Sun
37.79° — 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
5.695 AU
Eccentricity
0.1807
Inclination
7.41°
Orbital period
13.59 years
Perihelion
4.666 AU
Aphelion
6.724 AU
Longitude of ascending node
302.83°
Argument of periapsis
95.09°
Epoch · J2000
2457897.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,432.8 LD
3.6817 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.954

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
75
Data arc
16.65 years
First observed
29 April 2006
Last observed
21 December 2022
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
23 December 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 16.5
7.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 447P · 447P/2008 T14 · 447P/2021 R9

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2032-05-23 10:56:00 Juptr 0.8302 AU 323.1 LD 2.3 km/s
2037-03-07 15:54:00 Jupiter 0.4556 AU 177.3 LD 2.8 km/s
2037-03-07 15:54:00 Juptr 0.4556 AU 177.3 LD 2.8 km/s
2138-04-19 02:28:00 Juptr 0.7616 AU 296.4 LD 4.2 km/s

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

Sources