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Comet

Africano

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P/2018 Y2 (Africano)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
10.607 AU
True anomaly
162.45°
Distance from Earth
11.25 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 Africano — 10.607 AU from the Sun Africano
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Africano is 11.25 AU from Earth today (1.6 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 08m 52s
Declination
-29° 14′ 10″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
11.25 AU
Elongation from the Sun
47.62° — 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
7.478 AU
Eccentricity
0.4793
Inclination
11.68°
Orbital period
20.45 years
Perihelion
3.893 AU
Aphelion
11.062 AU
Longitude of ascending node
297.26°
Argument of periapsis
162.5°
Epoch · J2000
2458494.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,133.4 LD
2.9123 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.756

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
81
Data arc
101 days
First observed
10 December 2018
Last observed
21 March 2019
Residual RMS
0.52 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
10.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2018 Y2

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2046-06-08 11:34:00 Satrn 1.6841 AU 655.4 LD 3.9 km/s
2058-10-21 01:05:00 Juptr 1.7484 AU 680.4 LD 9.2 km/s

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

Sources