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Comet

PANSTARRS

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C/2014 S2 (PANSTARRS)

PANSTARRS is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 2.1 AU to 337.43 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 2,212 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
25.196 AU
True anomaly
147.64°
Distance from Earth
25.863 AU
As of
24 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth PANSTARRS — 25.196 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 25.863 AU from Earth today (3.6 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 48m 22s
Declination
-57° 06′ 59″
Constellation
Crux
Distance from Earth
25.87 AU
Elongation from the Sun
46.93° — 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
169.766 AU
Eccentricity
0.9876
Inclination
64.67°
Orbital period
2,212 years
Perihelion
2.101 AU
Aphelion
337.432 AU
Longitude of ascending node
8.12°
Argument of periapsis
87.81°
Epoch · J2000
2457397.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 687.9 LD
1.7675 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.797

Orbit quality

Observations used
2,941
Data arc
2.58 years
First observed
2 September 2014
Last observed
1 April 2017
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.3
6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2014 S2

Named

Sources