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Comet

Christensen

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422P/Christensen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
8.329 AU
True anomaly
150.57°
Distance from Earth
8.587 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 Christensen — 8.329 AU from the Sun Christensen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Christensen is 8.587 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 51m 44s
Declination
+48° 55′ 00″
Constellation
Ursa Major
Distance from Earth
8.58 AU
Elongation from the Sun
72.39° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
6.262 AU
Eccentricity
0.5061
Inclination
39.59°
Orbital period
15.67 years
Perihelion
3.093 AU
Aphelion
9.43 AU
Longitude of ascending node
36.09°
Argument of periapsis
305.99°
Epoch · J2000
2456642.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 874.5 LD
2.247 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.289

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
281
Data arc
16.19 years
First observed
22 September 2006
Last observed
29 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.7 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 July 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 18
7.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 422P · 422P/2006 S4 · 422P/2021 L1

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2065-08-18 23:18:00 Juptr 1.8506 AU 720.2 LD 8.2 km/s
2113-02-01 05:30:00 Juptr 1.566 AU 609.5 LD 8.4 km/s

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

Sources