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Comet

PANSTARRS

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455P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.882 AU
True anomaly
210.32°
Distance from Earth
4.706 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 — 3.882 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.706 AU from Earth today (39.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 12m 25s
Declination
-05° 50′ 20″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
4.71 AU
Elongation from the Sun
30.32° — 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
3.155 AU
Eccentricity
0.3042
Inclination
14.14°
Orbital period
5.6 years
Perihelion
2.195 AU
Aphelion
4.115 AU
Longitude of ascending node
146.21°
Argument of periapsis
237.94°
Epoch · J2000
2457854.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 480.4 LD
1.2345 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.088

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
71
Data arc
11.03 years
First observed
21 August 2011
Last observed
2 September 2022
Residual RMS
0.34 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 February 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 31.3
9.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 455P · 455P/2011 Q5 · 455P/2017 S9 · 455P/2022 R7

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2066-02-18 22:59:00 Juptr 1.8733 AU 729.0 LD 0.6 km/s
2076-09-16 01:42:00 Juptr 1.617 AU 629.3 LD 2.1 km/s
2087-08-17 06:22:00 Juptr 1.6354 AU 636.5 LD 2.9 km/s
2098-06-28 01:10:00 Juptr 1.9549 AU 760.8 LD 3.8 km/s
2184-12-08 18:36:00 Juptr 1.8434 AU 717.4 LD 1 km/s
2195-06-23 15:04:00 Juptr 1.6377 AU 637.4 LD 1.6 km/s

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

Sources