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Comet

Lovas

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93P/Lovas 1

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
2.339 AU
True anomaly
73.62°
Distance from Earth
2.686 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 Lovas — 2.339 AU from the Sun Lovas
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lovas is 2.686 AU from Earth today (22.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 18m 27s
Declination
+16° 28′ 57″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
2.68 AU
Elongation from the Sun
59.61° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
4.39 AU
Eccentricity
0.6125
Inclination
12.22°
Orbital period
9.2 years
Perihelion
1.701 AU
Aphelion
7.079 AU
Longitude of ascending node
339.91°
Argument of periapsis
74.61°
Epoch · J2000
2455374.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 295.9 LD
0.7602 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.605

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,580
Data arc
45.8 years
First observed
5 December 1980
Last observed
22 September 2026
Residual RMS
0.55 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
14 October 2026

Physical properties

Rotation period
18.2 hours

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 11.8
12.1

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Lovas, Miklos
Discovery date
5 December 1980
Discovery site
Konkoly Observatory, Hungary

Also known as 93P · 1980 V · 1980s · 1989 XIII · 1989p · 93P/1980 X1 · 93P/1989 N2

Named

Close approaches 13 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-07-27 05:05:00 Juptr 1.8294 AU 711.9 LD 5.5 km/s
2064-07-19 15:29:00 Juptr 0.8677 AU 337.7 LD 7.3 km/s
2079-01-16 18:10:00 Juptr 1.2781 AU 497.4 LD 10.1 km/s
2100-04-21 01:39:00 Juptr 0.996 AU 387.6 LD 8.9 km/s
2114-11-05 11:44:00 Juptr 0.7831 AU 304.8 LD 8.3 km/s
2136-02-03 15:56:00 Juptr 1.4819 AU 576.7 LD 10.4 km/s
2150-07-09 23:22:00 Juptr 0.7177 AU 279.3 LD 7.5 km/s
2185-12-26 05:10:00 Juptr 1.3592 AU 529.0 LD 5.6 km/s

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

Sources