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LINEAR-Spacewatch

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381P/LINEAR-Spacewatch

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
11.399 AU
True anomaly
167.6°
Distance from Earth
11.992 AU
As of
24 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth LINEAR-Spacewatch — 11.399 AU from the Sun LINEAR-Spacewatch
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR-Spacewatch is 11.992 AU from Earth today (1.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 34m 25s
Declination
-00° 32′ 55″
Constellation
Sextans
Distance from Earth
11.99 AU
Elongation from the Sun
51.57° — 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
7.123 AU
Eccentricity
0.6795
Inclination
28.46°
Orbital period
19.01 years
Perihelion
2.283 AU
Aphelion
11.962 AU
Longitude of ascending node
174.11°
Argument of periapsis
172.54°
Epoch · J2000
2457213.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 497.6 LD
1.2786 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.24

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
175
Data arc
19.14 years
First observed
1 September 2000
Last observed
24 October 2019
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
2 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 14.5
13.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 381P · 381P/2000 S4 · 381P/2019 K2

Named

Close approaches 1 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2128-08-12 05:35:00 Satrn 1.1317 AU 440.4 LD 7.1 km/s

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

Sources