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Comet

PANSTARRS

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394P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.773 AU
True anomaly
234.4°
Distance from Earth
3.791 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 — 4.773 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 3.791 AU from Earth today (31.5 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 53m 14s
Declination
+00° 45′ 14″
Constellation
Cetus
Distance from Earth
3.79 AU
Elongation from the Sun
169.29° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
4.339 AU
Eccentricity
0.3691
Inclination
8.53°
Orbital period
9.04 years
Perihelion
2.737 AU
Aphelion
5.94 AU
Longitude of ascending node
98.14°
Argument of periapsis
54.5°
Epoch · J2000
2458009.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 684.7 LD
1.7593 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.878

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
92
Data arc
18.05 years
First observed
1 April 2002
Last observed
19 April 2020
Residual RMS
0.5 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
16.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 394P · 394P/2011 GN5 · 394P/2020 F4

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-04-05 14:06:00 Juptr 0.9905 AU 385.5 LD 3.9 km/s
2067-09-26 14:47:00 Jupiter 0.4043 AU 157.3 LD 4.6 km/s
2067-09-26 14:47:00 Juptr 0.4043 AU 157.3 LD 4.6 km/s
2128-01-09 19:32:00 Juptr 0.8303 AU 323.1 LD 4.1 km/s
2150-08-24 22:26:00 Juptr 1.7615 AU 685.5 LD 10 km/s
2187-12-10 16:48:00 Juptr 0.7064 AU 274.9 LD 4.1 km/s

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

Sources