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Comet

LINEAR

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492P/LINEAR

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.275 AU
True anomaly
139.05°
Distance from Earth
7.229 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 LINEAR — 6.275 AU from the Sun LINEAR
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. LINEAR is 7.229 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 51m 56s
Declination
-05° 35′ 03″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
7.23 AU
Elongation from the Sun
16.1° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
5.746 AU
Eccentricity
0.6916
Inclination
11.46°
Orbital period
13.77 years
Perihelion
1.772 AU
Aphelion
9.72 AU
Longitude of ascending node
11.49°
Argument of periapsis
41.02°
Epoch · J2000
2456627.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 311.0 LD
0.7991 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.393

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
802
Data arc
14.55 years
First observed
10 August 2010
Last observed
25 February 2025
Residual RMS
0.65 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 March 2026

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 9.5
14.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 492P · 492P/2010 PB57 · 492P/2010 WK · 492P/2024 O3

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2040-04-12 04:27:00 Juptr 1.0104 AU 393.2 LD 7.5 km/s
2042-10-02 14:58:00 Satrn 1.6383 AU 637.6 LD 5 km/s
2102-10-28 18:24:00 Juptr 1.842 AU 716.8 LD 13.5 km/s
2159-03-10 01:00:00 Juptr 0.65 AU 253.0 LD 11.3 km/s
2189-11-06 04:36:00 Satrn 1.5745 AU 612.7 LD 5.1 km/s

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

Sources