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Comet

LONEOS

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150P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.547 AU
True anomaly
158.77°
Distance from Earth
5.367 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 LONEOS — 5.547 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 5.367 AU from Earth today (44.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 15m 37s
Declination
-06° 11′ 37″
Constellation
Aquila
Distance from Earth
5.38 AU
Elongation from the Sun
94.8° — 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
3.88 AU
Eccentricity
0.5465
Inclination
18.51°
Orbital period
7.64 years
Perihelion
1.76 AU
Aphelion
6.001 AU
Longitude of ascending node
272.41°
Argument of periapsis
245.61°
Epoch · J2000
2458754.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 332.6 LD
0.8545 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.713

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,367
Data arc
47.38 years
First observed
6 March 1978
Last observed
24 July 2025
Residual RMS
0.39 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
4 September 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 150P · 150P/2000 WT168

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2056-06-13 09:26:00 Juptr 1.0362 AU 403.3 LD 9.8 km/s
2079-12-28 17:33:00 Juptr 0.8608 AU 335.0 LD 7.9 km/s
2103-08-28 06:21:00 Juptr 0.9901 AU 385.3 LD 7 km/s
2127-06-05 20:15:00 Juptr 1.3202 AU 513.8 LD 5.9 km/s
2151-11-13 02:59:00 Juptr 1.8015 AU 701.1 LD 5.7 km/s
2176-08-14 04:40:00 Juptr 1.8283 AU 711.5 LD 5.5 km/s

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

Sources