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Comet

Leonard

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C/2022 W3 (Leonard)

Leonard is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.4 AU to 561.44 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 4,721.1 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 1 February 2024.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
11.267 AU
True anomaly
139.14°
Distance from Earth
11.483 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 Leonard — 11.267 AU from the Sun Leonard
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Leonard is 11.483 AU from Earth today (1.6 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 52m 10s
Declination
-85° 31′ 17″
Constellation
Octans
Distance from Earth
11.49 AU
Elongation from the Sun
74.7° — well clear of the Sun

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
281.42 AU
Eccentricity
0.995
Inclination
103.56°
Orbital period
4,721.1 years
Perihelion
1.398 AU
Aphelion
561.442 AU
Longitude of ascending node
132.27°
Argument of periapsis
116.52°
Epoch · J2000
2460087.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 288.2 LD
0.7405 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.325

Orbit quality

Observations used
876
Data arc
301 days
First observed
13 November 2022
Last observed
10 September 2023
Residual RMS
0.72 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
1 February 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
15.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
15.6

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2022 W3

Named

Sources