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Comet

Lemmon

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P/2016 WM48 (Lemmon)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
14.328 AU
True anomaly
173.75°
Distance from Earth
15.204 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 Lemmon — 14.328 AU from the Sun Lemmon
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon is 15.204 AU from Earth today (2.1 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 10m 31s
Declination
-39° 08′ 23″
Constellation
Centaurus
Distance from Earth
15.2 AU
Elongation from the Sun
27.3° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
8.195 AU
Eccentricity
0.7867
Inclination
117.55°
Orbital period
23.46 years
Perihelion
1.748 AU
Aphelion
14.643 AU
Longitude of ascending node
59.87°
Argument of periapsis
35.86°
Epoch · J2000
2457760.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 336.2 LD
0.8638 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.082

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 3).

Observations used
177
Data arc
258 days
First observed
30 November 2016
Last observed
15 August 2017
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2016 WM48

Named

Close approaches 6 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2042-07-25 14:52:00 Juptr 1.6119 AU 627.3 LD 20.2 km/s
2044-04-26 17:22:00 Satrn 1.2511 AU 486.9 LD 14.1 km/s

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

Sources