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Comet

Lulin

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C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

Lulin is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.21 AU to 148,033.91 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 20,137,723.3 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
37.128 AU
True anomaly
159.18°
Distance from Earth
36.151 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.

Sun Earth — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Lulin — 37.128 AU from the Sun Lulin
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lulin is 36.151 AU from Earth today (5.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
02h 43m 02s
Declination
+14° 13′ 51″
Constellation
Aries
Distance from Earth
36.15 AU
Elongation from the Sun
170.22° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
74,017.562 AU
Eccentricity
1
Inclination
178.37°
Orbital period
20,137,723.3 years
Perihelion
1.212 AU
Aphelion
148,033.912 AU
Longitude of ascending node
338.54°
Argument of periapsis
136.86°
Epoch · J2000
2454805.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 82.1 LD
0.211 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.365

Orbit quality

Observations used
3,853
Data arc
3.48 years
First observed
11 July 2007
Last observed
1 January 2011
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.2
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 6
10.2

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2007 N3

Named

Sources