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Comet

Shoemaker-Levy

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192P/Shoemaker-Levy 1

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.988 AU
True anomaly
144.13°
Distance from Earth
7.496 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 Shoemaker-Levy — 6.988 AU from the Sun Shoemaker-Levy
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Shoemaker-Levy is 7.496 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 11m 44s
Declination
+29° 51′ 51″
Constellation
Ursa Major
Distance from Earth
7.49 AU
Elongation from the Sun
56.7° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
6.476 AU
Eccentricity
0.772
Inclination
24.54°
Orbital period
16.48 years
Perihelion
1.476 AU
Aphelion
11.476 AU
Longitude of ascending node
51.59°
Argument of periapsis
313.08°
Epoch · J2000
2456888.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 221.3 LD
0.5685 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.094

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
200
Data arc
34.14 years
First observed
15 November 1990
Last observed
3 January 2025
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 March 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18
11.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 192P · 192P/1990 V1 · 192P/2007 T3 · 1990 XV · 1990o

Named

Close approaches 3 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2137-03-30 11:45:00 Juptr 0.8173 AU 318.1 LD 10 km/s

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

Sources