Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:02 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:51
warning Set your observing location to get relevant data
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet 402P/LINEAR

Above the horizon.  Rise: 15:03 | Tran: 23:14 | Set: 7:30
Alt: 23.05°   Az: 80.36°   Direction: East

Comet 402P/LINEAR is in the constellation of Bootes, at a distance of 960,169,646.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 14h 09m 52s and the Declination is +23° 43’ 14” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 402P/LINEAR is 22.10 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 402P/LINEAR in Bootes on May, 20 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 402P/LINEAR in Bootes on May, 20 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 402P/LINEAR is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

402P/LINEAR
RA: 14h 08m 42s
Dec: +23° 50’ 23”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 402P/LINEAR. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 402P/LINEAR?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 402P/LINEAR in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

14h 09m 52s
+23° 43’ 14”
18h 30m 56s
08h 40m 48s

J2000

14h 08m 42s
+23° 50’ 23”

Additional Information

Bootes
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.10

The observed values of Magnitude, Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted Magnitude as a directional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.

Rise and Set Times

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 402P/LINEAR from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 66.3°
Max altitude: 62.2°
Azimuth: 293.7°
  • 402P/LINEAR is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the East direction at an altitude of 23.05° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 402P/LINEAR is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

If you need to access this information frequently for your observations, you can create a simple customized Quick Access page, so that you can easily bookmark it in your browser favorites or add a shortcut to your mobile phones' home screen.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 402P/LINEAR from Earth is currently 960,169,646.0 kilometers, equivalent to 6.4183376508 Astronomical Units. Light takes 53m 22.781s to travel from Comet 402P/LINEAR and arrive to us.

960,169,646.0
6.4183376508
53m 22.781s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 402P/LINEAR from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of Comet 402P/LINEAR from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 402P/LINEAR from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 402P/LINEAR to Earth happens on Tue Dec 28 2021 at a distance of 3.002068 Astronomical Units, or 449,102,909 kilometers:

Tue Dec 28 2021
449,102,909
3.002068

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 402P/LINEAR, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet 402P/LINEAR as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 402P/LINEAR at epoch 21 February 2013 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456345.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.43884048
Orbit inclination i 30.89464570°
Perihelion distance q 3.91620473 AU
585,855,891 km
Aphelion distance Q 10.04134059 AU
1,502,163,174 km
Semi-major axis a 6.97877266 AU
1,044,009,532 km
Orbital period period 18.4364 years
6,733.9053 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2021-Dec-09 19:06:20
2,459,558.2961 JD
Next perihelion transit 2040-May-17 16:49
2,466,292.2014 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 326.98452993264°
Longitude of the ascending node node 123.13190359498°
Mean anomaly M 188.24133446935°
Mean motion n 0.05346081°/day
2h1>Orbit Visualization
Orbit Diagram of Comet 402P/LINEAR
View Comet 402P/LINEAR in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 402P/LINEAR computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2025 May 13 14h 12m 42s +23° 48’ 33” 22.05 Bootes
2025 May 14 14h 12m 19s +23° 48’ 13” 22.06 Bootes
2025 May 15 14h 11m 56s +23° 47’ 45” 22.07 Bootes
2025 May 16 14h 11m 34s +23° 47’ 12” 22.07 Bootes
2025 May 17 14h 11m 12s +23° 46’ 32” 22.08 Bootes
2025 May 18 14h 10m 50s +23° 45’ 47” 22.08 Bootes
2025 May 19 14h 10m 28s +23° 44’ 55” 22.09 Bootes
2025 May 20 14h 10m 07s +23° 43’ 58” 22.10 Bootes
2025 May 21 14h 09m 46s +23° 42’ 54” 22.10 Bootes
2025 May 22 14h 09m 26s +23° 41’ 44” 22.11 Bootes
2025 May 23 14h 09m 05s +23° 40’ 28” 22.12 Bootes
2025 May 24 14h 08m 45s +23° 39’ 06” 22.12 Bootes
2025 May 25 14h 08m 26s +23° 37’ 39” 22.13 Bootes
2025 May 26 14h 08m 07s +23° 36’ 05” 22.13 Bootes

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive