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Comet Near-Earth

PANSTARRS

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460P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
1.061 AU
True anomaly
28.91°
Distance from Earth
2.056 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 — 1.061 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 2.056 AU from Earth today (17.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 19m 32s
Declination
-04° 34′ 40″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
2.06 AU
Elongation from the Sun
3.67° — 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
3.022 AU
Eccentricity
0.6663
Inclination
18.92°
Orbital period
5.25 years
Perihelion
1.009 AU
Aphelion
5.035 AU
Longitude of ascending node
180.53°
Argument of periapsis
351.9°
Epoch · J2000
2457495.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 6.3 LD
0.0163 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.797

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
160
Data arc
5.1 years
First observed
1 December 2015
Last observed
5 January 2021
Residual RMS
0.31 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
26 April 2023

Physical properties

Rotation period
36.6 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
20.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
20.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 460P · 460P/2016 BA14 · 460P/2020 U6

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 24 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of PANSTARRS at 2048-03-14 19:30 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-03-14 19:30 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 20.4 LD · 7.84 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-03-11 to 2048-03-17, 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 a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 20.4 LD · 7.84 × 10⁶ km 2048-03-14 19:30 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2048-03-14 19:30 UTC close approach of PANSTARRS. Catalogue miss distance 20.4 LD · 7.84 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2048-03-11 to 2048-03-17, 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 a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-01-30 10:28:00 Juptr 0.6658 AU 259.1 LD 7.7 km/s
2046-07-06 03:02:00 Juptr 0.7606 AU 296.0 LD 9 km/s
2048-03-14 19:30:00 Earth 0.0524 AU 20.4 LD 14.2 km/s
2069-02-20 21:00:00 Earth 0.2726 AU 106.1 LD 17.1 km/s
2081-07-13 09:51:00 Juptr 0.825 AU 321.1 LD 8.4 km/s
2093-12-21 21:14:00 Juptr 0.6881 AU 267.8 LD 8.7 km/s
2106-02-05 11:45:00 Earth 0.4685 AU 182.3 LD 22.5 km/s
2129-02-07 13:15:00 Jupiter 0.4002 AU 155.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2129-02-07 13:15:00 Juptr 0.4002 AU 155.7 LD 7.6 km/s
2141-06-02 21:59:00 Juptr 0.9967 AU 387.9 LD 9.1 km/s

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

Sources