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Comet

PANSTARRS

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448P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.014 AU
True anomaly
195.83°
Distance from Earth
5.991 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 PANSTARRS — 5.014 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 5.991 AU from Earth today (49.8 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 21m 56s
Declination
-05° 21′ 53″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.99 AU
Elongation from the Sun
9.81° — 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
3.63 AU
Eccentricity
0.419
Inclination
12.15°
Orbital period
6.92 years
Perihelion
2.109 AU
Aphelion
5.151 AU
Longitude of ascending node
161.78°
Argument of periapsis
219.03°
Epoch · J2000
2458597.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 438.3 LD
1.1264 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.916

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
184
Data arc
14.22 years
First observed
1 October 2008
Last observed
20 December 2022
Residual RMS
0.34 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 August 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
18
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
18

Discovery & classification

Also known as 448P · 448P/2008 T13 · 448P/2015 X1 · 448P/2022 Q1

Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2052-08-30 14:08:00 Juptr 1.7068 AU 664.2 LD 7.4 km/s
2087-12-26 10:03:00 Juptr 0.5109 AU 198.8 LD 4 km/s
2147-04-14 14:48:00 Juptr 0.5659 AU 220.2 LD 3.9 km/s

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

Sources