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Comet Near-Earth

Catalina

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499P/Catalina

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.575 AU
True anomaly
161.57°
Distance from Earth
4.571 AU
As of
21 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 Catalina — 4.575 AU from the Sun Catalina
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Catalina is 4.571 AU from Earth today (38.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
19h 32m 09s
Declination
-15° 10′ 33″
Constellation
Sagittarius
Distance from Earth
4.59 AU
Elongation from the Sun
83.13° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.015 AU
Eccentricity
0.6914
Inclination
24.59°
Orbital period
5.24 years
Perihelion
0.931 AU
Aphelion
5.1 AU
Longitude of ascending node
139.33°
Argument of periapsis
2.56°
Epoch · J2000
2460368.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 21.5 LD
0.0552 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.726

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
468
Data arc
5.57 years
First observed
1 November 2019
Last observed
27 May 2025
Residual RMS
0.8 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
9 September 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
19.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
19.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 499P · 499P/2019 Y3 · 499P/2025 A5

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 25 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2033-07-04 10:08:00 Jupiter 0.3349 AU 130.3 LD 7.9 km/s
2033-07-04 10:08:00 Juptr 0.3349 AU 130.3 LD 7.9 km/s
2056-12-31 13:53:00 Juptr 1.7453 AU 679.2 LD 13 km/s
2069-03-13 11:58:00 Juptr 0.814 AU 316.8 LD 9.1 km/s
2092-06-08 18:19:00 Jupiter 0.3756 AU 146.2 LD 8.8 km/s
2092-06-08 18:19:00 Juptr 0.3756 AU 146.2 LD 8.8 km/s
2104-10-14 10:56:00 Juptr 1.5487 AU 602.7 LD 11.2 km/s
2128-03-03 17:33:00 Juptr 1.518 AU 590.8 LD 12.3 km/s
2140-05-30 19:44:00 Juptr 0.6131 AU 238.6 LD 8 km/s
2152-07-07 09:19:00 Venus 0.0995 AU 38.7 LD 15.3 km/s

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

Sources