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Comet

PANSTARRS

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C/2015 V4 (PANSTARRS)

PANSTARRS is a comet in the Halley-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 5.46 AU to 31.63 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 79.86 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
17.657 AU
True anomaly
132.05°
Distance from Earth
18.091 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 — 17.657 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 18.091 AU from Earth today (2.5 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 53m 45s
Declination
+34° 41′ 46″
Constellation
Hercules
Distance from Earth
18.09 AU
Elongation from the Sun
62.56° — 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
18.545 AU
Eccentricity
0.7056
Inclination
60.75°
Orbital period
79.86 years
Perihelion
5.46 AU
Aphelion
31.63 AU
Longitude of ascending node
179.9°
Argument of periapsis
306.91°
Epoch · J2000
2457465.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 1,841.5 LD
4.7318 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.588

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
79
Data arc
509 days
First observed
3 November 2015
Last observed
26 March 2017
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
12.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2015 V4

Named

Sources