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Comet

PANSTARRS

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466P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.839 AU
True anomaly
169.04°
Distance from Earth
6.026 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 — 5.839 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 6.026 AU from Earth today (50.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
09h 10m 49s
Declination
+17° 28′ 47″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
6.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
74.95° — 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
4.044 AU
Eccentricity
0.4669
Inclination
12.24°
Orbital period
8.13 years
Perihelion
2.156 AU
Aphelion
5.933 AU
Longitude of ascending node
119.89°
Argument of periapsis
196.59°
Epoch · J2000
2459449.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 445.6 LD
1.1449 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.81

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
207
Data arc
8.15 years
First observed
17 September 2015
Last observed
10 November 2023
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
14 May 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 17
11.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 466P · 466P/2015 T3 · 466P/2023 M3

Named

Close approaches 11 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2049-07-23 06:12:00 Juptr 1.5491 AU 602.9 LD 8.5 km/s
2086-08-28 14:52:00 Juptr 1.8797 AU 731.5 LD 8.6 km/s
2109-11-06 10:02:00 Juptr 0.6804 AU 264.8 LD 4.7 km/s
2133-01-24 00:09:00 Juptr 0.5489 AU 213.6 LD 4.7 km/s
2157-05-16 20:18:00 Juptr 0.6447 AU 250.9 LD 5.3 km/s

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

Sources