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Comet

PANSTARRS

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C/2014 W9 (PANSTARRS)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
18.776 AU
True anomaly
169.3°
Distance from Earth
17.949 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 PANSTARRS — 18.776 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 17.949 AU from Earth today (2.5 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
23h 55m 48s
Declination
-05° 09′ 15″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
17.95 AU
Elongation from the Sun
145.17° — 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.

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
11.167 AU
Eccentricity
0.8578
Inclination
10.63°
Orbital period
37.32 years
Perihelion
1.587 AU
Aphelion
20.747 AU
Longitude of ascending node
21.29°
Argument of periapsis
167.77°
Epoch · J2000
2457051.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 229.8 LD
0.5906 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
1.946

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
120
Data arc
226 days
First observed
25 October 2014
Last observed
8 June 2015
Residual RMS
0.58 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.8
14.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2014 W9

Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2127-06-28 21:04:00 Juptr 1.5198 AU 591.5 LD 10.8 km/s
2182-04-25 17:20:00 Urnus 1.5776 AU 613.9 LD 4.4 km/s

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

Sources