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Comet

PANSTARRS

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P/2022 R5 (PANSTARRS)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.951 AU
True anomaly
270.24°
Distance from Earth
3.442 AU
As of
11 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 — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth PANSTARRS — 2.951 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 3.442 AU from Earth today (28.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 42m 34s
Declination
-15° 54′ 55″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
3.45 AU
Elongation from the Sun
52.6° — 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
3.071 AU
Eccentricity
0.1958
Inclination
15.29°
Orbital period
5.38 years
Perihelion
2.47 AU
Aphelion
3.672 AU
Longitude of ascending node
115.07°
Argument of periapsis
240.68°
Epoch · J2000
2459865.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 585.2 LD
1.5036 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.148

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 5).

Observations used
47
Data arc
77 days
First observed
8 September 2022
Last observed
24 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
29 November 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
15.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2022 R5

Named

Close approaches 3 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2061-10-04 23:37:00 Juptr 1.9741 AU 768.3 LD 4.5 km/s

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

Sources