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Comet

NEOWISE

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C/2019 L2 (NEOWISE)

NEOWISE is a comet in the Halley-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.62 AU to 49.66 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 129.9 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 19 July 2022.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
18.225 AU
True anomaly
152.07°
Distance from Earth
19.201 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 NEOWISE — 18.225 AU from the Sun NEOWISE
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEOWISE is 19.201 AU from Earth today (2.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 24m 20s
Declination
-04° 32′ 02″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
19.2 AU
Elongation from the Sun
11.33° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
25.643 AU
Eccentricity
0.9368
Inclination
152.19°
Orbital period
129.9 years
Perihelion
1.622 AU
Aphelion
49.664 AU
Longitude of ascending node
12.53°
Argument of periapsis
18.82°
Epoch · J2000
2458669.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 247.4 LD
0.6358 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.171

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).

Observations used
117
Data arc
19 days
First observed
11 June 2019
Last observed
30 June 2019
Residual RMS
0.67 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
19 July 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 27.8
10.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2019 L2

Named

Sources