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Comet

McNaught

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P/2008 Y3 (McNaught)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.871 AU
True anomaly
231.88°
Distance from Earth
8.111 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth McNaught — 8.871 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 8.111 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 40m 48s
Declination
+42° 24′ 57″
Constellation
Andromeda
Distance from Earth
8.11 AU
Elongation from the Sun
137.54° — 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
8.028 AU
Eccentricity
0.4477
Inclination
38.81°
Orbital period
22.75 years
Perihelion
4.434 AU
Aphelion
11.622 AU
Longitude of ascending node
262.93°
Argument of periapsis
238.28°
Epoch · J2000
2454879.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,406.7 LD
3.6145 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.379

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
164
Data arc
2.54 years
First observed
18 December 2007
Last observed
2 July 2010
Residual RMS
0.7 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
4.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 16.5
4.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2008 Y3

Named

Close approaches 1 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2120-03-17 03:45:00 Juptr 0.5296 AU 206.1 LD 10.5 km/s

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

Sources