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Comet

Africano

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C/2018 V4 (Africano)

Africano is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 3.2 AU to 418.49 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 3,061.6 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 20 June 2022.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
18.893 AU
True anomaly
132.39°
Distance from Earth
19.557 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 Africano — 18.893 AU from the Sun Africano
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Africano is 19.557 AU from Earth today (2.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 11m 25s
Declination
+21° 30′ 57″
Constellation
Hercules
Distance from Earth
19.57 AU
Elongation from the Sun
46.64° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
210.846 AU
Eccentricity
0.9848
Inclination
69°
Orbital period
3,061.6 years
Perihelion
3.199 AU
Aphelion
418.492 AU
Longitude of ascending node
78.38°
Argument of periapsis
0.01°
Epoch · J2000
2458439.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 861.7 LD
2.2143 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.816

Orbit quality

Observations used
159
Data arc
125 days
First observed
5 September 2018
Last observed
8 January 2019
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
20 June 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2018 V4

Named

Sources