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Comet

Siding Spring

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468P/Siding Spring

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.6 AU
True anomaly
107.18°
Distance from Earth
6.021 AU
As of
24 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Siding Spring — 6.6 AU from the Sun Siding Spring
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Siding Spring is 6.021 AU from Earth today (50.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 09m 06s
Declination
+70° 05′ 59″
Constellation
Cassiopeia
Distance from Earth
6.02 AU
Elongation from the Sun
121.85° — 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
7.147 AU
Eccentricity
0.4448
Inclination
50.36°
Orbital period
19.11 years
Perihelion
3.968 AU
Aphelion
10.325 AU
Longitude of ascending node
356.1°
Argument of periapsis
322.25°
Epoch · J2000
2457914.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,191.7 LD
3.0621 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.067

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
159
Data arc
19.71 years
First observed
3 November 2004
Last observed
19 July 2024
Residual RMS
0.5 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
22 July 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
11.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 468P · 468P/2004 V3 · 468P/2023 O1

Named

Close approaches 4 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2081-04-03 00:40:00 Juptr 1.833 AU 713.3 LD 13.4 km/s

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

Sources