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Comet

McNaught

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336P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.492 AU
True anomaly
282.18°
Distance from Earth
4.319 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 McNaught — 3.492 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 4.319 AU from Earth today (35.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 47m 30s
Declination
-12° 08′ 52″
Constellation
Crater
Distance from Earth
4.31 AU
Elongation from the Sun
30.41° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.813 AU
Eccentricity
0.4529
Inclination
18.56°
Orbital period
10.56 years
Perihelion
2.633 AU
Aphelion
6.992 AU
Longitude of ascending node
299.24°
Argument of periapsis
313.96°
Epoch · J2000
2454677.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 644.8 LD
1.6569 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.707

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
164
Data arc
20.87 years
First observed
11 August 1996
Last observed
23 June 2017
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
8.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.5
8.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 336P · 336P/2006 G1 · 336P/2016 B2

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2129-07-11 12:36:00 Juptr 1.7043 AU 663.2 LD 9.5 km/s
2139-12-06 08:24:00 Juptr 1.8076 AU 703.4 LD 7.4 km/s
2168-08-23 11:09:00 Juptr 1.0744 AU 418.1 LD 5.8 km/s
2180-06-30 21:35:00 Juptr 0.375 AU 145.9 LD 8.4 km/s
2180-06-30 21:35:00 Jupiter 0.375 AU 145.9 LD 8.4 km/s

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

Sources