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Comet

PANSTARRS

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C/2021 R2 (PANSTARRS)

PANSTARRS is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 7.31 AU to 5,811.85 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 156,947.3 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 8 December 2022.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
12.808 AU
True anomaly
81.91°
Distance from Earth
13.401 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 PANSTARRS — 12.808 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 13.401 AU from Earth today (1.9 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
16h 55m 20s
Declination
+16° 07′ 32″
Constellation
Hercules
Distance from Earth
13.41 AU
Elongation from the Sun
51.43° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
2,909.581 AU
Eccentricity
0.9975
Inclination
134.47°
Orbital period
156,947.3 years
Perihelion
7.312 AU
Aphelion
5,811.851 AU
Longitude of ascending node
16.28°
Argument of periapsis
32.3°
Epoch · J2000
2459526.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 2,484.4 LD
6.3839 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-2.346

Orbit quality

Observations used
126
Data arc
795 days
First observed
20 September 2020
Last observed
24 November 2022
Residual RMS
0.49 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
8 December 2022

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10.8
7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2021 R2

Named

Sources