Comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) is a comet discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) on January 10, 2022. The comet has a parabolic-like and retrograde orbit with a perihelion distance of 1.73 astronomical units (AU). It has reached its maximum brightness in January 2023, during its perihelion passage, and now it is becoming fainter as it is moving away from the sun.

Find it in the Sky

Chose a date & time and view the position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) in the sky on our interactive planetarium.

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Comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)

Below the horizon. Rise: 4:34 | Tran: 7:09 | Set: 9:44

Alt: -13.72° Az: 129.73° Direction: South-East

Comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) is in the constellation of Sculptor, at a distance of 1,223,245,314.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 00h 16m 16s and the Declination is -37° 04’ 06” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS), computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 23.39).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

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Star map showing the position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) in the constellation of Sculptor on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.

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Star map showing the position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) in the constellation of Sculptor on F, d Y. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive star map.

The following map uses photographic imagery from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) to realistically visualize the precise position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) against the stars in the background. The horizontal size of the map measures 60 arcminutes. Click on the image to access a more detailed full-screen view.

C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS)
RA: 00h 14m 59s
Dec: -37° 12’ 36”

Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS). Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

Right Ascension 00h 16m 16s

Declination -37° 04’ 06”

Hour Angle 19h 22m 14s

Sidereal Time 19h 38m 31s

J2000

Right Ascension 00h 14m 59s

Declination -37° 12’ 36”

Additional Information

Constellation Sculptor

Observed Magnitude (COBS) n/a

Coma Diameter (COBS) n/a

Tail Length (COBS) n/a

Observation Date (COBS) n/a

Predicted Magnitude (JPL) 23.39

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

The following table lists today's rise, transit and set times of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) from Limoges (FR) (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Paris):

Azimuth: 127.1° RISE 4:34

Max altitude: 7.1° TRANSIT 7:09

Azimuth: 232.9° SET 9:44

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 C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) from Earth is currently 1,223,245,314.0 kilometers, equivalent to 8.1768898733 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1h 8m 0.307s to travel from comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) and arrive to us.

Distance Km 1,223,245,314.0

Distance AU 8.1768898733

Light Travel Time 1h 8m 0.307s

The following graph shows the distance of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance is measured in Astronomical Units and the data is sampled with an interval of 1 day.

Chart of the distance of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)
Note: The values in this chart may not be entirely accurate around the time of closest approach for objects passing very close to Earth at high speed (e.g., Near-Earth Objects).

The value of the distance of C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the live position tracker.

Closest Approach to Earth

In the period between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099, the closest approach of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) to Earth happened on Tuesday 17 January 2023 at a distance of 1.612817 Astronomical Units, or 241,274,033 kilometers:

Date Tuesday 17 January 2023

Distance Kilometers 241,274,033

Distance AU 1.612817

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

Light Curve

The following chart shows the light curve of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS), i.e., its apparent magnitude as a function of time. The curve is calculated using the latest ephemerides provided by JPL Horizons. The magnitude data is sampled with the interval of 2 days. Because of this sampling, inaccuracies may occur for objects that have large variations of brightness over a few days. For comets, large discrepancies can arise between the calculated brightness and the observations due to their highly dynamic, and not always precisely predictable, behavior.

Chart of the magnitude of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) at epoch April, 24 2023 00:00 UTC (JD: 2460059.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element	Symbol	Value
Orbit eccentricity	e	1.00038112
Orbit inclination	i	108.14671367°
Perihelion distance	q	1.73533438 AU 259,602,328 km
Aphelion distance	Q	n.a.
Semi-major axis	a	n.a.
Orbital period	period	n.a.
Date of perihelion transit	Tp	February 18, 2023 2,459,993.7690 JD
Argument of perihelion	peri	88.36787795385°
Longitude of the ascending node	node	171.57952621304°
Mean anomaly	M	0.0002108581318884°
Mean motion	n	0.00000321°/day

Orbit Visualization

The following chart is a 3D animated visualization of the orbit of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) relative to the other major objects in the Solar System. You can access more advanced features using our 3D Solar System Viewer.

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) 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
Jun 30 2025	00h 16m 46s	-36° 20’ 01”	23.37	Sculptor
Jul 01 2025	00h 16m 43s	-36° 26’ 11”	23.37	Sculptor
Jul 02 2025	00h 16m 40s	-36° 32’ 24”	23.38	Sculptor
Jul 03 2025	00h 16m 37s	-36° 38’ 38”	23.38	Sculptor
Jul 04 2025	00h 16m 32s	-36° 44’ 55”	23.38	Sculptor
Jul 05 2025	00h 16m 27s	-36° 51’ 14”	23.38	Sculptor
Jul 06 2025	00h 16m 22s	-36° 57’ 35”	23.39	Sculptor
Jul 07 2025	00h 16m 16s	-37° 03’ 57”	23.39	Sculptor
Jul 08 2025	00h 16m 10s	-37° 10’ 22”	23.39	Sculptor
Jul 09 2025	00h 16m 02s	-37° 16’ 48”	23.40	Sculptor
Jul 10 2025	00h 15m 55s	-37° 23’ 15”	23.40	Sculptor
Jul 11 2025	00h 15m 46s	-37° 29’ 44”	23.40	Sculptor
Jul 12 2025	00h 15m 38s	-37° 36’ 15”	23.41	Sculptor
Jul 13 2025	00h 15m 28s	-37° 42’ 46”	23.41	Sculptor

Ephemeris Calculator

Compute the position of comet C/2022 A2 (PANSTARRS) for any date and time between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2099 and display the results on an interactive star map.