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Comet

McNaught

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C/2009 F5 (McNaught)

McNaught is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 2.25 AU to 158.09 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 717.8 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
34.534 AU
True anomaly
153.75°
Distance from Earth
34.517 AU
As of
24 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 McNaught — 34.534 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 34.517 AU from Earth today (4.8 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
18h 22m 42s
Declination
+62° 23′ 06″
Constellation
Draco
Distance from Earth
34.52 AU
Elongation from the Sun
90.08° — well clear of the Sun

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
80.166 AU
Eccentricity
0.972
Inclination
84.99°
Orbital period
717.8 years
Perihelion
2.245 AU
Aphelion
158.087 AU
Longitude of ascending node
219.06°
Argument of periapsis
297.37°
Epoch · J2000
2454958.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 638.1 LD
1.6396 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
0.226

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
444
Data arc
148 days
First observed
20 March 2009
Last observed
15 August 2009
Residual RMS
0.57 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
12.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2009 F5

Named

Sources