About C/1998 M1 (LINEAR)
C/1998 M1 (LINEAR) is an uncommon comet. It swings within 3.118 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Jupiter-family comet, herded by Jupiter's gravity into a short orbit of under twenty years.
Uncommon comet 33 EP
C/1998 M1 (LINEAR)
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 4 badgesUncommon 34 pts → Rare
- Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) +14
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Jupiter-family comet +5
Total score 33
1 more point to reach Rare.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Jupiter-family comet · +5
- Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) · +14
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. A Jupiter-family comet, herded by Jupiter's gravity into a short orbit of under twenty years.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 3.12 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Jupiter.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 8948 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 3.1 and 858.9 AU from the Sun.
Standing on it
- Tail. Its tail always points away from the Sun, never trailing behind its motion — it is blown, not dragged.
By the numbers
- Made of. A comet is a dirty snowball: water ice, frozen carbon dioxide and dust, held together loosely enough that some simply crumble when the Sun warms them.
What's in a name
- Named. Notable enough to have earned a proper name, not just a catalogue number.
Properties
- aphelion au
- 858.93
- designation
- 1998 M1
- eccentricity
- 0.9928
- full name
- C/1998 M1 (LINEAR)
- inclination
- 20.38
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0001
- moid au
- 2.11
- name
- C/1998 M1 (LINEAR)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFc
- perihelion au
- 3.118
- semi major au
- 431
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, C/1998 M1 (LINEAR) is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. Because it moves against the background stars, the live position panel on this page tracks where it is right now. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Why C/1998 M1 (LINEAR) is an uncommon comet
C/1998 M1 (LINEAR) scores 33 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the uncommon tier. Another 1 point would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 4 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Jupiter-family comet and Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.