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Comet

Christensen

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438P/Christensen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.164 AU
True anomaly
269.07°
Distance from Earth
4.115 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 — 3.164 AU from the Sun Christensen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Christensen is 4.115 AU from Earth today (34.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 41m 50s
Declination
-19° 18′ 29″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
4.11 AU
Elongation from the Sun
14.6° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
3.824 AU
Eccentricity
0.4224
Inclination
8.34°
Orbital period
7.48 years
Perihelion
2.209 AU
Aphelion
5.44 AU
Longitude of ascending node
260.6°
Argument of periapsis
58.4°
Epoch · J2000
2454687.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 470.6 LD
1.2092 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.898

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
115
Data arc
11.41 years
First observed
7 October 2005
Last observed
7 March 2017
Residual RMS
0.5 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 June 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 5.5
17.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 438P · 438P/2005 T2 · 438P/2012 V5 · 438P/2020 OV62

Named

Close approaches 10 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2037-11-12 12:40:00 Juptr 0.4067 AU 158.3 LD 4.4 km/s
2037-11-12 12:40:00 Jupiter 0.4067 AU 158.3 LD 4.4 km/s
2041-08-22 03:58:00 Juptr 1.8559 AU 722.2 LD 2.6 km/s
2061-08-12 02:47:00 Juptr 1.2645 AU 492.1 LD 7 km/s
2122-03-09 11:10:00 Juptr 0.602 AU 234.3 LD 3.3 km/s
2144-07-01 00:33:00 Juptr 1.9389 AU 754.6 LD 8.6 km/s
2181-12-03 03:06:00 Juptr 0.8916 AU 347.0 LD 6.1 km/s

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

Sources