Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Lagerkvist-Carsenty

Add to an observing list or journal →

308P/Lagerkvist-Carsenty

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.403 AU
True anomaly
211.17°
Distance from Earth
9.202 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 Lagerkvist-Carsenty — 8.403 AU from the Sun Lagerkvist-Carsenty
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lagerkvist-Carsenty is 9.202 AU from Earth today (1.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 08m 33s
Declination
-21° 21′ 04″
Constellation
Scorpius
Distance from Earth
9.21 AU
Elongation from the Sun
33.9° — 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
6.675 AU
Eccentricity
0.3622
Inclination
4.84°
Orbital period
17.24 years
Perihelion
4.257 AU
Aphelion
9.092 AU
Longitude of ascending node
63.14°
Argument of periapsis
333.65°
Epoch · J2000
2454233.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,270.1 LD
3.2635 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.883

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
369
Data arc
18.5 years
First observed
1 October 1997
Last observed
2 April 2016
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
10.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 308P · 308P/1997 T3 · 308P/2014 O2 · 308P/2014 QD604

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2085-06-26 06:00:00 Juptr 0.6336 AU 246.6 LD 5.6 km/s
2168-10-05 06:25:00 Juptr 1.3818 AU 537.8 LD 7.4 km/s
2188-06-29 09:40:00 Juptr 0.3471 AU 135.1 LD 5.1 km/s
2188-06-29 09:40:00 Jupiter 0.3471 AU 135.1 LD 5.1 km/s

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

Sources