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Comet Near-Earth

Elenin

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479P/Elenin

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.029 AU
True anomaly
151.64°
Distance from Earth
6.312 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 Elenin — 7.029 AU from the Sun Elenin
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Elenin is 6.312 AU from Earth today (52.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
22h 39m 34s
Declination
+06° 39′ 26″
Constellation
Pegasus
Distance from Earth
6.33 AU
Elongation from the Sun
132.19° — well clear of the Sun

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
5.62 AU
Eccentricity
0.7786
Inclination
15.39°
Orbital period
13.32 years
Perihelion
1.244 AU
Aphelion
9.996 AU
Longitude of ascending node
295.85°
Argument of periapsis
263.49°
Epoch · J2000
2460007.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 149.1 LD
0.383 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.183

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
990
Data arc
13.15 years
First observed
12 June 2011
Last observed
5 August 2024
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 August 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6
16.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 479P · 479P/2011 NO1 · 479P/2023 WM26

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2036-06-09 19:12:00 Juptr 1.1334 AU 441.1 LD 13.6 km/s
2092-10-26 23:23:00 Juptr 1.0768 AU 419.1 LD 11.6 km/s

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

Sources