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Comet Near-Earth

Catalina-McNaught

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319P/Catalina-McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.424 AU
True anomaly
197.96°
Distance from Earth
6.013 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-McNaught — 5.424 AU from the Sun Catalina-McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina-McNaught is 6.013 AU from Earth today (50.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 00m 51s
Declination
+16° 02′ 53″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
6.01 AU
Elongation from the Sun
50.1° — 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
3.573 AU
Eccentricity
0.665
Inclination
15.07°
Orbital period
6.75 years
Perihelion
1.197 AU
Aphelion
5.949 AU
Longitude of ascending node
111.37°
Argument of periapsis
203.68°
Epoch · J2000
2456569.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 77.8 LD
0.2 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.651

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
371
Data arc
14.49 years
First observed
2 May 2008
Last observed
30 October 2022
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
24 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 8.5
17.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 319P · 319P/2008 JK · 319P/2008 S1 · 319P/2015 G1

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 16 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Catalina-McNaught at 2068-07-17 23:15 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2068-07-17 23:15 UTC close approach of Catalina-McNaught. Catalogue miss distance 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2068-07-14 to 2068-07-20, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km 2068-07-17 23:15 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2068-07-17 23:15 UTC close approach of Catalina-McNaught. Catalogue miss distance 68.2 LD · 2.62 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2068-07-14 to 2068-07-20, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2027-04-20 10:13:00 Juptr 1.7123 AU 666.4 LD 11.1 km/s
2038-05-27 11:54:00 Juptr 0.6487 AU 252.4 LD 6.3 km/s
2050-02-02 06:34:00 Juptr 1.7252 AU 671.4 LD 11.9 km/s
2068-07-17 23:15:00 Earth 0.1753 AU 68.2 LD 11.2 km/s
2086-08-31 19:20:00 Juptr 1.1073 AU 430.9 LD 9.2 km/s
2097-08-22 10:21:00 Juptr 0.6114 AU 238.0 LD 6.4 km/s
2109-03-25 03:29:00 Juptr 1.106 AU 430.4 LD 10.2 km/s
2153-07-29 23:39:00 Earth 0.1286 AU 50.0 LD 9.6 km/s
2157-09-18 05:38:00 Juptr 0.6881 AU 267.8 LD 6.8 km/s
2168-05-21 19:36:00 Jupiter 0.29 AU 112.9 LD 7.7 km/s

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

Sources