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Comet

LINEAR

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392P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
10.196 AU
True anomaly
173.05°
Distance from Earth
10.716 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 — 10.196 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 10.716 AU from Earth today (1.5 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
17h 39m 38s
Declination
-27° 36′ 46″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
10.73 AU
Elongation from the Sun
55.38° — 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
6.156 AU
Eccentricity
0.6825
Inclination
4.94°
Orbital period
15.27 years
Perihelion
1.954 AU
Aphelion
10.357 AU
Longitude of ascending node
25.11°
Argument of periapsis
72°
Epoch · J2000
2454304.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 380.5 LD
0.9778 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.429

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
387
Data arc
30.4 years
First observed
22 November 1989
Last observed
17 April 2020
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
2 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6.3
16.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 392P · 392P/2004 WR9 · 392P/2019 U3

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2033-11-25 10:25:00 Juptr 0.4707 AU 183.2 LD 8.9 km/s
2033-11-25 10:25:00 Jupiter 0.4707 AU 183.2 LD 8.9 km/s
2053-09-11 15:54:00 Juptr 0.8284 AU 322.4 LD 11.8 km/s
2076-06-09 13:32:00 Satrn 1.5183 AU 590.9 LD 4.2 km/s
2152-08-30 22:17:00 Juptr 1.0624 AU 413.5 LD 7.2 km/s
2167-04-07 05:30:00 Satrn 0.9297 AU 361.8 LD 5.6 km/s
2187-12-08 15:10:00 Jupiter 0.1767 AU 68.8 LD 10.7 km/s
2187-12-08 15:10:00 Juptr 0.1767 AU 68.8 LD 10.7 km/s
2194-12-14 01:11:00 Satrn 1.6745 AU 651.7 LD 4.4 km/s

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

Sources