Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

PANSTARRS

Add to an observing list or journal →

456P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.235 AU
True anomaly
107.28°
Distance from Earth
4.143 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 — 3.235 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 4.143 AU from Earth today (34.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 24m 00s
Declination
-18° 32′ 35″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
4.15 AU
Elongation from the Sun
21.03° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
3.165 AU
Eccentricity
0.1187
Inclination
16.96°
Orbital period
5.63 years
Perihelion
2.789 AU
Aphelion
3.541 AU
Longitude of ascending node
243.22°
Argument of periapsis
234.67°
Epoch · J2000
2459413.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 717.1 LD
1.8426 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.125

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
60
Data arc
12.47 years
First observed
18 August 2012
Last observed
4 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.35 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 February 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.3
12

Discovery & classification

Also known as 456P · 456P/2012 Q3 · 456P/2021 L4

Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2035-06-05 17:54:00 Juptr 1.9814 AU 771.1 LD 5.5 km/s
2056-06-17 22:25:00 Juptr 1.9709 AU 767.0 LD 3.3 km/s
2067-03-31 09:04:00 Juptr 1.9086 AU 742.8 LD 4.9 km/s
2154-02-03 13:40:00 Juptr 1.9536 AU 760.3 LD 5.6 km/s
2175-02-23 22:26:00 Juptr 1.987 AU 773.3 LD 3.1 km/s
2185-11-24 16:34:00 Juptr 1.9289 AU 750.7 LD 4.8 km/s

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

Sources