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Comet

Catalina

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257P/Catalina

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.531 AU
True anomaly
251.72°
Distance from Earth
4.518 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 Catalina — 3.531 AU from the Sun Catalina
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina is 4.518 AU from Earth today (37.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 15m 44s
Declination
-10° 51′ 07″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
4.52 AU
Elongation from the Sun
6.17° — too close to the Sun to observe

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
3.754 AU
Eccentricity
0.4324
Inclination
20.24°
Orbital period
7.27 years
Perihelion
2.131 AU
Aphelion
5.376 AU
Longitude of ascending node
207.85°
Argument of periapsis
117.88°
Epoch · J2000
2457015.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 467.0 LD
1.1999 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.823

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
2,118
Data arc
16.63 years
First observed
17 April 2005
Last observed
2 December 2021
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 January 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 5
15.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 257P · 257P/2005 JY126 · 257P/2012 F4

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2036-07-27 19:44:00 Juptr 1.846 AU 718.4 LD 6.3 km/s
2040-07-02 06:14:00 Juptr 1.1464 AU 446.1 LD 5.9 km/s
2131-08-13 15:35:00 Juptr 1.8335 AU 713.5 LD 6.2 km/s
2135-06-09 16:09:00 Juptr 1.1345 AU 441.5 LD 5.7 km/s
2194-03-09 12:10:00 Juptr 1.4253 AU 554.7 LD 7.9 km/s

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

Sources