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Comet

Lemmon

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P/2020 WJ5 (Lemmon)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.761 AU
True anomaly
142.68°
Distance from Earth
6.812 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 Lemmon — 6.761 AU from the Sun Lemmon
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon is 6.812 AU from Earth today (56.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
19h 22m 53s
Declination
-03° 04′ 40″
Constellation
Aquila
Distance from Earth
6.83 AU
Elongation from the Sun
82.11° — well clear of the Sun

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
6.017 AU
Eccentricity
0.1713
Inclination
22.29°
Orbital period
14.76 years
Perihelion
4.986 AU
Aphelion
7.048 AU
Longitude of ascending node
177.81°
Argument of periapsis
338.23°
Epoch · J2000
2459930.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,558.4 LD
4.0043 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.825

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 2).

Observations used
720
Data arc
3.71 years
First observed
18 November 2020
Last observed
5 August 2024
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 August 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
12.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2020 WJ5

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2051-10-06 04:33:00 Juptr 0.7485 AU 291.3 LD 5.6 km/s
2130-02-17 16:27:00 Juptr 1.606 AU 625.0 LD 5.7 km/s
2134-05-20 21:48:00 Juptr 1.1312 AU 440.2 LD 5.7 km/s
2140-04-29 04:01:00 Juptr 1.9235 AU 748.6 LD 5.4 km/s

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

Sources