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Comet

Lemmon-PANSTARRS

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C/2021 F1 (Lemmon-PANSTARRS)

Lemmon-PANSTARRS is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1 AU to 462.15 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 3,524 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 24 April 2023.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
14.398 AU
True anomaly
149.97°
Distance from Earth
14.904 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 Lemmon-PANSTARRS — 14.398 AU from the Sun Lemmon-PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon-PANSTARRS is 14.904 AU from Earth today (2.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 51m 12s
Declination
-68° 43′ 52″
Constellation
Musca
Distance from Earth
14.91 AU
Elongation from the Sun
57.57° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

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
231.571 AU
Eccentricity
0.9957
Inclination
107.32°
Orbital period
3,524 years
Perihelion
0.995 AU
Aphelion
462.147 AU
Longitude of ascending node
203.45°
Argument of periapsis
146.83°
Epoch · J2000
2459641.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 31.7 LD
0.0813 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.346

Orbit quality

Observations used
403
Data arc
220 days
First observed
7 January 2022
Last observed
15 August 2022
Residual RMS
0.58 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
24 April 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.9
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.5
12.9

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2021 F1

Named

Sources