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Comet

Lemmon-Read

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P/2018 C1 (Lemmon-Read)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
7.93 AU
True anomaly
201.37°
Distance from Earth
7.24 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-Read — 7.93 AU from the Sun Lemmon-Read
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Lemmon-Read is 7.24 AU from Earth today (1.0 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
22h 40m 12s
Declination
-02° 32′ 43″
Constellation
Aquarius
Distance from Earth
7.25 AU
Elongation from the Sun
130.23° — 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
5.576 AU
Eccentricity
0.5345
Inclination
5.13°
Orbital period
13.17 years
Perihelion
2.596 AU
Aphelion
8.556 AU
Longitude of ascending node
270.45°
Argument of periapsis
234.33°
Epoch · J2000
2458178.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 627.5 LD
1.6125 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.676

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
121
Data arc
133 days
First observed
15 January 2018
Last observed
28 May 2018
Residual RMS
0.44 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
14
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 10
14

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2018 C1

Named

Close approaches 8 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2083-02-26 08:45:00 Juptr 0.632 AU 245.9 LD 6.9 km/s
2114-09-02 11:06:00 Juptr 1.6304 AU 634.5 LD 12.1 km/s
2185-04-20 02:28:00 Jupiter 0.3756 AU 146.2 LD 7.4 km/s
2185-04-20 02:28:00 Juptr 0.3756 AU 146.2 LD 7.4 km/s

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

Sources