Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

Catalina

Add to an observing list or journal →

330P/Catalina

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
9.915 AU
True anomaly
192.69°
Distance from Earth
9.727 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 — 9.915 AU from the Sun Catalina
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina is 9.727 AU from Earth today (1.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 33m 39s
Declination
-13° 23′ 30″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
9.74 AU
Elongation from the Sun
97.04° — well clear of the Sun

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
6.59 AU
Eccentricity
0.5493
Inclination
15.55°
Orbital period
16.92 years
Perihelion
2.97 AU
Aphelion
10.21 AU
Longitude of ascending node
294.34°
Argument of periapsis
186.72°
Epoch · J2000
2455624.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 773.0 LD
1.9862 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.601

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
342
Data arc
17.41 years
First observed
5 November 1999
Last observed
2 April 2017
Residual RMS
0.75 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
3 May 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13
10.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 330P · 330P/1999 V1 · 330P/2015 U1

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2084-02-04 06:06:00 Juptr 1.8432 AU 717.3 LD 7.8 km/s
2107-09-28 06:26:00 Satrn 1.584 AU 616.5 LD 5.4 km/s
2172-08-17 18:31:00 Juptr 1.4949 AU 581.8 LD 8.7 km/s
2197-08-01 20:40:00 Satrn 1.0498 AU 408.5 LD 3.9 km/s

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

Sources