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Comet

Sheppard-Tholen

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485P/Sheppard-Tholen

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.691 AU
True anomaly
111.8°
Distance from Earth
7.678 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 Sheppard-Tholen — 6.691 AU from the Sun Sheppard-Tholen
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Sheppard-Tholen is 7.678 AU from Earth today (1.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 41m 46s
Declination
-17° 55′ 24″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
7.68 AU
Elongation from the Sun
6.88° — 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
6.841 AU
Eccentricity
0.4159
Inclination
10.01°
Orbital period
17.89 years
Perihelion
3.996 AU
Aphelion
9.685 AU
Longitude of ascending node
261.84°
Argument of periapsis
195.92°
Epoch · J2000
2454933.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,173.4 LD
3.015 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.814

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
12
Data arc
18.18 years
First observed
2 January 2006
Last observed
8 March 2024
Residual RMS
0.31 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
10 October 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
6.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 19.3
6.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 485P · 485P/2006 AH2 · 485P/2022 U6

Named

Sources