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Comet

NEOWISE

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C/2022 P1 (NEOWISE)

NEOWISE is a comet in the Halley-type comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.6 AU to 35.27 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 79.13 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 30 June 2023.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
11.398 AU
True anomaly
143.28°
Distance from Earth
12.188 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 — 11.398 AU from the Sun NEOWISE
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. NEOWISE is 12.188 AU from Earth today (1.7 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 10m 54s
Declination
+12° 40′ 34″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
12.19 AU
Elongation from the Sun
36.33° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
18.432 AU
Eccentricity
0.9135
Inclination
154.61°
Orbital period
79.13 years
Perihelion
1.595 AU
Aphelion
35.269 AU
Longitude of ascending node
205.08°
Argument of periapsis
249.93°
Epoch · J2000
2459870.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 296.9 LD
0.7629 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.102

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
696
Data arc
312 days
First observed
8 August 2022
Last observed
16 June 2023
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
30 June 2023

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13.3
11.5

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2022 P1

Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2179-04-07 07:10:00 Juptr 1.9455 AU 757.1 LD 25.9 km/s

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

Sources