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Comet

CINEOS

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167P/CINEOS

CINEOS is a comet in the Chiron-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 11.78 AU to 20.5 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 64.85 years; it is about 66 km across. Orbit from the JPL solution of 10 December 2025.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
19.901 AU
True anomaly
156.72°
Distance from Earth
19.245 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth CINEOS — 19.901 AU from the Sun CINEOS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. CINEOS is 19.245 AU from Earth today (2.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
05h 11m 49s
Declination
+35° 30′ 20″
Constellation
Auriga
Distance from Earth
19.24 AU
Elongation from the Sun
130.49° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
16.142 AU
Eccentricity
0.27
Inclination
19.13°
Orbital period
64.85 years
Perihelion
11.783 AU
Aphelion
20.5 AU
Longitude of ascending node
295.84°
Argument of periapsis
343.65°
Epoch · J2000
2453092.5
Orbit class · CTc
Chiron-type comet
Earth MOID · 4,191.9 LD
10.7714 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.527

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
96
Data arc
9.35 years
First observed
12 June 2002
Last observed
19 October 2011
Residual RMS
0.48 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 December 2025

Physical properties

Mean radius
33 km

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.053

Discovery & classification

Also known as 167P · 167P/2004 PY42

Named

Close approaches 1 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-06-02 17:55:00 Urnus 1.6388 AU 637.8 LD 2.6 km/s

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

Sources