Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

PANSTARRS

Add to an observing list or journal →

347P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.988 AU
True anomaly
175.59°
Distance from Earth
5.822 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 PANSTARRS — 4.988 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 5.822 AU from Earth today (48.4 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
11h 46m 31s
Declination
-09° 28′ 28″
Constellation
Crater
Distance from Earth
5.82 AU
Elongation from the Sun
30.5° — 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
3.609 AU
Eccentricity
0.3847
Inclination
11.75°
Orbital period
6.86 years
Perihelion
2.22 AU
Aphelion
4.997 AU
Longitude of ascending node
261.05°
Argument of periapsis
98.3°
Epoch · J2000
2458651.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 488.3 LD
1.2547 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.947

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
309
Data arc
21.4 years
First observed
12 July 2002
Last observed
4 December 2023
Residual RMS
0.49 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
13 November 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 347P · 347P/2009 Q9 · 347P/2016 SV

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2039-11-26 01:38:00 Juptr 1.3747 AU 535.0 LD 3.6 km/s
2041-11-12 20:52:00 Juptr 1.3518 AU 526.1 LD 2.9 km/s
2073-08-06 06:09:00 Juptr 1.6593 AU 645.7 LD 3.5 km/s
2076-05-09 11:32:00 Juptr 1.5326 AU 596.4 LD 5.3 km/s
2124-05-06 18:35:00 Juptr 1.0803 AU 420.4 LD 3.5 km/s
2172-08-14 18:47:00 Juptr 1.4098 AU 548.6 LD 3.2 km/s

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

Sources