Skip to content
Public Universe
Comet

McNaught

Add to an observing list or journal →

P/2013 J2 (McNaught)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.529 AU
True anomaly
226.07°
Distance from Earth
7.46 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 — 6.529 AU from the Sun McNaught
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. McNaught is 7.46 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 35m 18s
Declination
-18° 27′ 40″
Constellation
Corvus
Distance from Earth
7.45 AU
Elongation from the Sun
19.85° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
6.246 AU
Eccentricity
0.6561
Inclination
15.5°
Orbital period
15.61 years
Perihelion
2.148 AU
Aphelion
10.345 AU
Longitude of ascending node
289.39°
Argument of periapsis
37.89°
Epoch · J2000
2456553.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 450.8 LD
1.1582 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.427

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
1,606
Data arc
600 days
First observed
8 May 2013
Last observed
29 December 2014
Residual RMS
0.43 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
12.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 7.3
12.8

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2013 J2

Named

Close approaches 1 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2064-06-25 10:06:00 Satrn 0.8911 AU 346.8 LD 6.7 km/s

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

Sources