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Comet

NEAT

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180P/NEAT

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.161 AU
True anomaly
167.56°
Distance from Earth
4.516 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 NEAT — 5.161 AU from the Sun NEAT
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEAT is 4.516 AU from Earth today (37.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 08m 14s
Declination
-26° 24′ 56″
Constellation
Sculptor
Distance from Earth
4.52 AU
Elongation from the Sun
125.32° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.858 AU
Eccentricity
0.3549
Inclination
16.87°
Orbital period
7.58 years
Perihelion
2.489 AU
Aphelion
5.228 AU
Longitude of ascending node
84.57°
Argument of periapsis
94.86°
Epoch · J2000
2457502.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 607.9 LD
1.5621 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.889

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
1,053
Data arc
16.68 years
First observed
23 October 2006
Last observed
28 June 2023
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
20 March 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 22.8
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 180P · 180P/2001 K1 · 180P/2006 U3

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2033-03-30 11:43:00 Juptr 1.2256 AU 477.0 LD 6.3 km/s
2056-09-11 06:45:00 Juptr 1.1383 AU 443.0 LD 5 km/s
2061-01-05 02:08:00 Juptr 1.8397 AU 716.0 LD 4.4 km/s
2080-09-06 06:35:00 Juptr 1.5019 AU 584.5 LD 7.6 km/s
2142-06-29 03:53:00 Juptr 0.854 AU 332.4 LD 6.8 km/s
2166-01-19 11:50:00 Juptr 1.2066 AU 469.6 LD 7.9 km/s

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

Sources