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Comet

McNaught

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P/2005 L1 (McNaught)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.612 AU
True anomaly
212.72°
Distance from Earth
5.059 AU
As of
22 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth McNaught — 4.612 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 5.059 AU from Earth today (42.1 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
10h 13m 30s
Declination
+11° 18′ 00″
Constellation
Leo
Distance from Earth
5.05 AU
Elongation from the Sun
58.6° — 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
3.974 AU
Eccentricity
0.2092
Inclination
7.74°
Orbital period
7.92 years
Perihelion
3.143 AU
Aphelion
4.806 AU
Longitude of ascending node
138.33°
Argument of periapsis
149.56°
Epoch · J2000
2453554.5
Orbit class · ETc
Encke-type comet
Earth MOID · 828.8 LD
2.1296 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.003

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
257
Data arc
352 days
First observed
16 May 2005
Last observed
3 May 2006
Residual RMS
0.54 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
10.3
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
10.3

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2005 L1

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2061-12-31 08:07:00 Juptr 0.6917 AU 269.2 LD 3.6 km/s

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

Sources