Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

PANSTARRS

Add to an observing list or journal →

P/2023 V2 (PANSTARRS)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.712 AU
True anomaly
118.65°
Distance from Earth
7.602 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 PANSTARRS — 6.712 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 7.602 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 43m 28s
Declination
+04° 48′ 30″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
7.6 AU
Elongation from the Sun
24.86° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
7.229 AU
Eccentricity
0.5706
Inclination
9.89°
Orbital period
19.44 years
Perihelion
3.104 AU
Aphelion
11.354 AU
Longitude of ascending node
95.47°
Argument of periapsis
330.54°
Epoch · J2000
2460597.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 826.3 LD
2.1231 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.627

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
319
Data arc
591 days
First observed
19 September 2023
Last observed
2 May 2025
Residual RMS
0.42 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 March 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2023 V2

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2076-11-02 13:14:00 Satrn 1.5107 AU 587.9 LD 5.9 km/s

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

Sources