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Public Universe
Comet

McNaught

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350P/McNaught

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.75 AU
True anomaly
31.56°
Distance from Earth
4.657 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 — 3.75 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 4.657 AU from Earth today (38.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 15m 41s
Declination
-17° 10′ 00″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
4.66 AU
Elongation from the Sun
21.24° — 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
4.084 AU
Eccentricity
0.0934
Inclination
7.36°
Orbital period
8.25 years
Perihelion
3.703 AU
Aphelion
4.466 AU
Longitude of ascending node
65.29°
Argument of periapsis
139.62°
Epoch · J2000
2459967.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 1,051.7 LD
2.7024 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.024

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
98
Data arc
9.4 years
First observed
26 January 2017
Last observed
21 June 2026
Residual RMS
0.6 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
16 September 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18.3
7.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 350P · 350P/2010 J5 · 350P/2017 B2

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2047-03-30 13:34:00 Juptr 0.7265 AU 282.7 LD 2.8 km/s
2106-11-30 19:39:00 Jupiter 0.4772 AU 185.7 LD 2.7 km/s
2106-11-30 19:39:00 Juptr 0.4772 AU 185.7 LD 2.7 km/s
2166-06-26 19:19:00 Juptr 1.1347 AU 441.6 LD 4.4 km/s
2199-05-19 18:18:00 Juptr 1.82 AU 708.3 LD 2.8 km/s

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

Sources