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Comet

Hogan

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474P/Hogan

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.663 AU
True anomaly
201.12°
Distance from Earth
4.459 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 Hogan — 3.663 AU from the Sun Hogan
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hogan is 4.459 AU from Earth today (37.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 16m 11s
Declination
-18° 38′ 35″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
4.46 AU
Elongation from the Sun
32.56° — 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
3.129 AU
Eccentricity
0.1887
Inclination
1.1°
Orbital period
5.54 years
Perihelion
2.539 AU
Aphelion
3.72 AU
Longitude of ascending node
26.75°
Argument of periapsis
12.09°
Epoch · J2000
2459488.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 601.6 LD
1.5459 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.186

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
120
Data arc
18.59 years
First observed
14 June 2005
Last observed
17 January 2024
Residual RMS
0.41 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
21 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13
14.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 474P · 474P/2017 O4 · 474P/2023 S4

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2044-05-24 14:26:00 Juptr 1.9856 AU 772.7 LD 3.3 km/s
2054-10-17 19:10:00 Juptr 1.7654 AU 687.0 LD 1.9 km/s
2065-03-16 03:52:00 Juptr 1.7727 AU 689.9 LD 1.7 km/s
2138-10-04 17:38:00 Juptr 1.8559 AU 722.3 LD 2.5 km/s
2149-02-26 23:06:00 Juptr 1.7226 AU 670.4 LD 1.6 km/s
2159-07-30 16:29:00 Juptr 1.8568 AU 722.6 LD 2 km/s

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

Sources