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Comet

Catalina

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459P/Catalina

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.006 AU
True anomaly
190.82°
Distance from Earth
5.04 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 Catalina — 5.006 AU from the Sun Catalina
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina is 5.04 AU from Earth today (41.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 45m 25s
Declination
-18° 14′ 17″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
5.05 AU
Elongation from the Sun
81.76° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.352 AU
Eccentricity
0.5227
Inclination
13.72°
Orbital period
6.14 years
Perihelion
1.6 AU
Aphelion
5.103 AU
Longitude of ascending node
272.03°
Argument of periapsis
189.89°
Epoch · J2000
2458483.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 240.6 LD
0.6182 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.882

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,065
Data arc
27.48 years
First observed
28 December 1997
Last observed
22 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
4 September 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 459P · 459P/2010 VH95

Named

Close approaches 20 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2032-04-03 16:46:00 Jupiter 0.3733 AU 145.3 LD 5.2 km/s
2032-04-03 16:46:00 Juptr 0.3733 AU 145.3 LD 5.2 km/s
2044-04-17 07:36:00 Juptr 1.3038 AU 507.4 LD 8.3 km/s
2091-04-21 15:05:00 Juptr 1.9646 AU 764.6 LD 11.2 km/s
2103-01-03 03:25:00 Jupiter 0.4593 AU 178.8 LD 5.9 km/s
2103-01-03 03:25:00 Juptr 0.4593 AU 178.8 LD 5.9 km/s
2114-12-24 01:33:00 Juptr 0.3301 AU 128.5 LD 5.3 km/s
2114-12-24 01:33:00 Jupiter 0.3301 AU 128.5 LD 5.3 km/s
2124-10-30 09:09:00 Mars 0.0465 AU 18.1 LD 8 km/s
2126-09-13 07:47:00 Juptr 1.3316 AU 518.2 LD 8.5 km/s

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

Sources