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Comet

Palomar

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505P/Palomar

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.235 AU
True anomaly
64.72°
Distance from Earth
3.011 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 Palomar — 3.235 AU from the Sun Palomar
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Palomar is 3.011 AU from Earth today (25.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 28m 44s
Declination
-25° 15′ 27″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
3.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
93.4° — well clear of the Sun

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
4.085 AU
Eccentricity
0.3175
Inclination
11.47°
Orbital period
8.26 years
Perihelion
2.788 AU
Aphelion
5.382 AU
Longitude of ascending node
112.3°
Argument of periapsis
144.67°
Epoch · J2000
2457075.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 693.5 LD
1.782 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.921

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
87
Data arc
25.13 years
First observed
23 May 2001
Last observed
11 July 2026
Residual RMS
0.63 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
16 July 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 5.5
16.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 505P · 505P/2009 KF37

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2073-03-19 22:27:00 Juptr 0.7508 AU 292.2 LD 6.1 km/s
2154-09-10 01:29:00 Juptr 1.0459 AU 407.0 LD 5.2 km/s

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

Sources