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Comet

PANSTARRS

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P/2019 A1 (PANSTARRS)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.177 AU
True anomaly
204.79°
Distance from Earth
7.094 AU
As of
22 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 — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth PANSTARRS — 7.177 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 7.094 AU from Earth today (59.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 10m 10s
Declination
-21° 08′ 22″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
7.11 AU
Elongation from the Sun
89.95° — well clear of the Sun

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
5.131 AU
Eccentricity
0.5689
Inclination
13.74°
Orbital period
11.62 years
Perihelion
2.212 AU
Aphelion
8.05 AU
Longitude of ascending node
312.3°
Argument of periapsis
150.85°
Epoch · J2000
2458501.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 482.2 LD
1.2391 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.601

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
63
Data arc
86 days
First observed
4 December 2018
Last observed
28 February 2019
Residual RMS
0.42 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2019 A1

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2077-12-20 02:43:00 Juptr 1.3907 AU 541.2 LD 8.7 km/s
2089-09-30 20:27:00 Juptr 1.5831 AU 616.1 LD 6.1 km/s
2152-04-15 10:17:00 Juptr 0.8553 AU 332.9 LD 7.1 km/s
2164-02-16 20:01:00 Juptr 0.7278 AU 283.2 LD 8.4 km/s

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

Sources