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Comet

Lemmon-PANSTARRS

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302P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.085 AU
True anomaly
92.4°
Distance from Earth
3.305 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 Lemmon-PANSTARRS — 4.085 AU from the Sun Lemmon-PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon-PANSTARRS is 3.305 AU from Earth today (27.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 47m 03s
Declination
+15° 55′ 31″
Constellation
Taurus
Distance from Earth
3.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
137.2° — 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
4.272 AU
Eccentricity
0.2301
Inclination
6.03°
Orbital period
8.83 years
Perihelion
3.289 AU
Aphelion
5.255 AU
Longitude of ascending node
121.72°
Argument of periapsis
208.55°
Epoch · J2000
2460179.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 886.9 LD
2.2791 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.972

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
997
Data arc
19.09 years
First observed
16 August 2007
Last observed
19 September 2026
Residual RMS
0.59 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
21 September 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
6.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 16
6.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 302P · 302P/2007 RJ236 · 302P/2014 K2

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-07-05 02:02:00 Juptr 1.6027 AU 623.7 LD 4.1 km/s
2067-08-12 01:15:00 Juptr 1.7658 AU 687.2 LD 4.5 km/s
2097-08-31 02:27:00 Juptr 0.7664 AU 298.3 LD 3.6 km/s
2102-11-27 09:12:00 Juptr 0.9052 AU 352.3 LD 2.3 km/s
2167-06-16 10:26:00 Jupiter 0.0629 AU 24.5 LD 5.2 km/s
2167-06-16 10:26:00 Juptr 0.0629 AU 24.5 LD 5.2 km/s

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

Sources