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Comet

LINEAR-Skiff

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371P/LINEAR-Skiff

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.488 AU
True anomaly
307.56°
Distance from Earth
2.298 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 LINEAR-Skiff — 2.488 AU from the Sun LINEAR-Skiff
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-Skiff is 2.298 AU from Earth today (19.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 20m 45s
Declination
-38° 19′ 42″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
2.3 AU
Elongation from the Sun
88.59° — well clear of the Sun

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
4.164 AU
Eccentricity
0.478
Inclination
17.41°
Orbital period
8.5 years
Perihelion
2.174 AU
Aphelion
6.154 AU
Longitude of ascending node
67.41°
Argument of periapsis
308.64°
Epoch · J2000
2454648.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 475.2 LD
1.221 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.749

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
175
Data arc
17.36 years
First observed
19 August 2001
Last observed
28 December 2018
Residual RMS
0.77 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
4.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 41
4.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 371P · 371P/2001 R6 · 371P/2018 R1

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-02-21 02:24:00 Juptr 0.6727 AU 261.8 LD 7.3 km/s
2065-11-29 04:23:00 Jupiter 0.4739 AU 184.4 LD 5.7 km/s
2065-11-29 04:23:00 Juptr 0.4739 AU 184.4 LD 5.7 km/s
2087-05-23 01:55:00 Juptr 1.8677 AU 726.9 LD 5.8 km/s
2124-10-08 21:36:00 Juptr 1.8114 AU 704.9 LD 9.9 km/s
2148-09-28 13:01:00 Juptr 0.9166 AU 356.7 LD 4.9 km/s

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

Sources