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Comet

Lemmon

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P/2011 FR143 (Lemmon)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.734 AU
True anomaly
263.23°
Distance from Earth
5.237 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 Lemmon — 5.734 AU from the Sun Lemmon
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon is 5.237 AU from Earth today (43.6 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
06h 10m 43s
Declination
+06° 33′ 44″
Constellation
Orion
Distance from Earth
5.22 AU
Elongation from the Sun
116.24° — well clear of the Sun

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
6.83 AU
Eccentricity
0.453
Inclination
16.01°
Orbital period
17.85 years
Perihelion
3.735 AU
Aphelion
9.924 AU
Longitude of ascending node
191.02°
Argument of periapsis
349.92°
Epoch · J2000
2455779.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 1,066.2 LD
2.7397 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.725

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
63
Data arc
463 days
First observed
5 March 2011
Last observed
10 June 2012
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
31 May 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
14.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2011 FR143

Named

Close approaches 7 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2029-10-27 14:00:00 Juptr 1.4885 AU 579.3 LD 6.8 km/s
2054-10-19 02:44:00 Satrn 1.3852 AU 539.1 LD 3.8 km/s

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

Sources