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Comet

McNaught

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P/2009 Q5 (McNaught)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.674 AU
True anomaly
230.42°
Distance from Earth
8.393 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 McNaught — 7.674 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 8.393 AU from Earth today (1.2 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
15h 58m 14s
Declination
+16° 28′ 27″
Constellation
Serpens
Distance from Earth
8.39 AU
Elongation from the Sun
41.29° — 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
7.465 AU
Eccentricity
0.6091
Inclination
40.9°
Orbital period
20.4 years
Perihelion
2.919 AU
Aphelion
12.012 AU
Longitude of ascending node
160.14°
Argument of periapsis
209.27°
Epoch · J2000
2455113.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 765.2 LD
1.9662 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.133

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
331
Data arc
171 days
First observed
31 August 2009
Last observed
18 February 2010
Residual RMS
0.51 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
13.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
13.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2009 Q5

Named

Close approaches 2 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2096-10-14 14:23:00 Satrn 1.4942 AU 581.5 LD 6.8 km/s
2155-09-28 20:36:00 Satrn 1.5111 AU 588.1 LD 8.4 km/s

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

Sources