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Comet

LINEAR

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241P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.961 AU
True anomaly
177.26°
Distance from Earth
8.822 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 LINEAR — 7.961 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 8.822 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 55m 52s
Declination
-35° 22′ 11″
Constellation
Centaurus
Distance from Earth
8.83 AU
Elongation from the Sun
27.92° — 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
4.954 AU
Eccentricity
0.6099
Inclination
20.87°
Orbital period
11.03 years
Perihelion
1.932 AU
Aphelion
7.975 AU
Longitude of ascending node
305.81°
Argument of periapsis
110.53°
Epoch · J2000
2457040.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 408.2 LD
1.0488 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.495

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
874
Data arc
22.5 years
First observed
30 October 1999
Last observed
29 April 2022
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
6 May 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.3
14.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 241P · 241P/1999 U3 · 241P/2010 P2

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2110-12-20 19:43:00 Juptr 1.957 AU 761.6 LD 7.9 km/s
2151-01-05 08:28:00 Juptr 0.7119 AU 277.1 LD 8.2 km/s
2162-06-16 08:23:00 Juptr 1.1774 AU 458.2 LD 11.6 km/s

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

Sources