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Comet

PANSTARRS

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503P/PANSTARRS

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
3.26 AU
True anomaly
107.09°
Distance from Earth
2.286 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 PANSTARRS — 3.26 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 2.286 AU from Earth today (19.0 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 57m 18s
Declination
+25° 13′ 01″
Constellation
Aries
Distance from Earth
2.29 AU
Elongation from the Sun
166.04° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
3.648 AU
Eccentricity
0.483
Inclination
10.59°
Orbital period
6.97 years
Perihelion
1.886 AU
Aphelion
5.41 AU
Longitude of ascending node
268.63°
Argument of periapsis
17.92°
Epoch · J2000
2458767.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 339.7 LD
0.873 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.868

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
123
Data arc
14.18 years
First observed
26 March 2011
Last observed
1 June 2025
Residual RMS
0.4 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
7 July 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11
14.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 503P · 503P/2011 F2 · 503P/2018 L1 · 503P/2025 F3

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2048-11-27 01:09:00 Juptr 0.5202 AU 202.4 LD 6.3 km/s
2073-10-16 02:54:00 Juptr 0.6576 AU 255.9 LD 4.8 km/s
2108-03-20 16:41:00 Juptr 1.2134 AU 472.2 LD 8.2 km/s

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

Sources