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Comet

CATALINA

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403P/CATALINA

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.127 AU
True anomaly
177.92°
Distance from Earth
8.781 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 CATALINA — 8.127 AU from the Sun CATALINA
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. CATALINA is 8.781 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 58m 57s
Declination
-11° 18′ 45″
Constellation
Ophiuchus
Distance from Earth
8.79 AU
Elongation from the Sun
45.73° — 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
5.408 AU
Eccentricity
0.5037
Inclination
12.32°
Orbital period
12.58 years
Perihelion
2.684 AU
Aphelion
8.132 AU
Longitude of ascending node
163.85°
Argument of periapsis
277.85°
Epoch · J2000
2457066.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 675.2 LD
1.735 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.683

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
215
Data arc
13.43 years
First observed
3 November 2007
Last observed
7 April 2021
Residual RMS
0.74 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
2 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 23.5
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 403P · 403P/2007 VQ11 · 403P/2020 T1

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2057-04-27 20:23:00 Juptr 0.4687 AU 182.4 LD 8.3 km/s
2057-04-27 20:23:00 Jupiter 0.4687 AU 182.4 LD 8.3 km/s
2069-02-12 18:24:00 Juptr 0.7151 AU 278.3 LD 8.9 km/s

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

Sources