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Comet Near-Earth

Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

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45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.384 AU
True anomaly
210.09°
Distance from Earth
3.885 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 Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova — 3.384 AU from the Sun Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is 3.885 AU from Earth today (32.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 41m 14s
Declination
-21° 58′ 33″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
3.89 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.96° — 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
3.026 AU
Eccentricity
0.824
Inclination
4.25°
Orbital period
5.26 years
Perihelion
0.533 AU
Aphelion
5.52 AU
Longitude of ascending node
88.93°
Argument of periapsis
326.34°
Epoch · J2000
2457979.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 23.5 LD
0.0604 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.581

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
1,823
Data arc
5.66 years
First observed
5 November 2016
Last observed
4 July 2022
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
19 July 2022

Physical properties

Mean radius
0.80 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 22
13.7

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Honda, Minora
Discovery date
3 December 1948
Discovery site
Kurashiki, Japan

Also known as 45P · 1948 XII · 1948n · 1954 III · 1954a · 1964 VII · 1964d · 1969 V

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 22 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at 2032-11-08 20:47 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-11-08 20:47 UTC close approach of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova. Catalogue miss distance 143.2 LD · 5.5 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-11-05 to 2032-11-11, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. approximate Sun 143.2 LD · 5.5 × 10⁷ km 2032-11-08 20:47 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2032-11-08 20:47 UTC close approach of Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova. Catalogue miss distance 143.2 LD · 5.5 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2032-11-05 to 2032-11-11, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2030-08-01 09:42:00 Juptr 0.168 AU 65.4 LD 7.9 km/s
2030-08-01 09:42:00 Jupiter 0.168 AU 65.4 LD 7.9 km/s
2032-11-08 20:47:00 Earth 0.3679 AU 143.2 LD 21.7 km/s
2042-06-21 11:10:00 Juptr 1.1754 AU 457.4 LD 10.9 km/s
2043-11-14 13:34:00 Earth 0.3948 AU 153.6 LD 23.1 km/s
2054-07-29 04:40:00 Earth 0.4401 AU 171.3 LD 34.4 km/s
2060-02-07 09:51:00 Venus 0.1198 AU 46.6 LD 18 km/s
2077-08-30 08:47:00 Juptr 1.4304 AU 556.7 LD 11.7 km/s
2081-08-03 10:38:00 Earth 0.4057 AU 157.9 LD 32.5 km/s
2089-07-08 13:46:00 Jupiter 0.2857 AU 111.2 LD 7.7 km/s

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

Sources