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Comet

LONEOS

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159P/LONEOS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.898 AU
True anomaly
196.51°
Distance from Earth
8.618 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 — 7.898 AU from the Sun LONEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LONEOS is 8.618 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 29m 02s
Declination
-29° 32′ 05″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
8.63 AU
Elongation from the Sun
40.56° — 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
5.86 AU
Eccentricity
0.3821
Inclination
23.46°
Orbital period
14.19 years
Perihelion
3.621 AU
Aphelion
8.099 AU
Longitude of ascending node
55.06°
Argument of periapsis
4.87°
Epoch · J2000
2457137.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,024.8 LD
2.6332 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.687

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
880
Data arc
31.26 years
First observed
17 December 1989
Last observed
21 March 2021
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
25 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
12.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 159P · 159P/2003 UD16

Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2064-03-13 14:29:00 Juptr 1.943 AU 756.2 LD 5.3 km/s
2132-04-04 03:20:00 Juptr 1.7999 AU 700.5 LD 7.3 km/s

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

Sources