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Comet

Spacewatch-LINEAR

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475P/Spacewatch-LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.018 AU
True anomaly
92.85°
Distance from Earth
6.414 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 Spacewatch-LINEAR — 6.018 AU from the Sun Spacewatch-LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Spacewatch-LINEAR is 6.414 AU from Earth today (53.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 13m 23s
Declination
-13° 33′ 29″
Constellation
Serpens
Distance from Earth
6.42 AU
Elongation from the Sun
62.29° — well clear of the Sun

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
7.298 AU
Eccentricity
0.4398
Inclination
14.53°
Orbital period
19.71 years
Perihelion
4.088 AU
Aphelion
10.508 AU
Longitude of ascending node
147.49°
Argument of periapsis
40.54°
Epoch · J2000
2456149.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,209.3 LD
3.1075 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.772

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
159
Data arc
21.35 years
First observed
11 February 2004
Last observed
19 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.64 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
26 June 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.8
7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 475P · 475P/2004 DO29 · 475P/2023 V7

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2062-11-27 03:32:00 Juptr 1.0753 AU 418.5 LD 5.8 km/s
2114-12-18 20:27:00 Satrn 1.8197 AU 708.2 LD 3.3 km/s
2123-10-15 21:55:00 Juptr 1.6029 AU 623.8 LD 6.1 km/s
2171-01-31 22:04:00 Satrn 0.9078 AU 353.3 LD 3.5 km/s
2183-07-12 20:00:00 Juptr 1.6727 AU 651.0 LD 5.9 km/s

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

Sources