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Comet

PANSTARRS

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P/2025 A2 (PANSTARRS)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.873 AU
True anomaly
101.59°
Distance from Earth
5.861 AU
As of
23 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 PANSTARRS — 4.873 AU from the Sun PANSTARRS
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. PANSTARRS is 5.861 AU from Earth today (48.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
13h 53m 44s
Declination
-05° 34′ 58″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.86 AU
Elongation from the Sun
6.34° — too close to the Sun to observe

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
5.086 AU
Eccentricity
0.3224
Inclination
20.73°
Orbital period
11.47 years
Perihelion
3.446 AU
Aphelion
6.726 AU
Longitude of ascending node
189.32°
Argument of periapsis
278.03°
Epoch · J2000
2460697.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 991.7 LD
2.5482 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.774

Orbit quality

Orbit reasonably well determined (uncertainty code 4).

Observations used
66
Data arc
126 days
First observed
27 November 2024
Last observed
2 April 2025
Residual RMS
0.25 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
11 April 2025

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
16.1
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
16.1

Discovery & classification

Also known as 2025 A2

Named

Close approaches 5 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2034-05-15 09:36:00 Juptr 1.4299 AU 556.5 LD 9.6 km/s

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

Sources