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Comet

LONEOS-PANSTARRS

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462P/LONEOS-PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.443 AU
True anomaly
166.77°
Distance from Earth
7.757 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth LONEOS-PANSTARRS — 7.443 AU from the Sun LONEOS-PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS-PANSTARRS is 7.757 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 36m 20s
Declination
+15° 21′ 19″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
7.75 AU
Elongation from the Sun
68.73° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
4.888 AU
Eccentricity
0.5779
Inclination
7.03°
Orbital period
10.81 years
Perihelion
2.063 AU
Aphelion
7.713 AU
Longitude of ascending node
322.92°
Argument of periapsis
4.42°
Epoch · J2000
2459143.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 408.9 LD
1.0506 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.635

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
182
Data arc
22.31 years
First observed
29 July 2000
Last observed
19 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.49 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
26 January 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.5
16.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 462P · 462P/2000 OZ21 · 462P/2022 M1

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2052-08-06 15:20:00 Juptr 0.6359 AU 247.5 LD 7 km/s
2144-07-05 13:31:00 Juptr 1.6662 AU 648.4 LD 11.6 km/s
2155-12-21 18:39:00 Juptr 0.5757 AU 224.1 LD 6.3 km/s
2182-11-03 16:45:00 Juptr 0.7133 AU 277.6 LD 6.9 km/s

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

Sources