Machholz is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.16 AU to 536,267.23 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 138,846,615.7 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 63.486 AU
- True anomaly
- 174.16°
- Distance from Earth
- 62.968 AU
- As of
- 25 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.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 22h 07m 46s
- Declination
- +00° 03′ 27″
- Constellation
- Aquarius
- Distance from Earth
- 62.98 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 120.23° — well clear of the Sun
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.
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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
- 268,133.698 AU
- Eccentricity
- 1
- Inclination
- 40.2°
- Orbital period
- 138,846,615.7 years
- Perihelion
- 0.165 AU
- Aphelion
- 536,267.231 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 167.73°
- Argument of periapsis
- 349.04°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2447392.5
- Orbit class · COM
- Comet
- Earth MOID · 153.6 LD
- 0.3947 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 0.384
Orbit quality
- Observations used
- 56
- Data arc
- 28 days
- First observed
- 7 August 1988
- Last observed
- 4 September 1988
- Residual RMS
- 0.63 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Discovery & classification
Also known as 1988 P1
Sources
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB