About C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS)
C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS) is a rare comet. It swings within 7.68 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
On a hyperbolic orbit: it is moving too fast for the Sun's gravity to hold on to it.
Rare comet 46 EP
C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS)
Position computed live · sbdb
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Live ephemeris
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Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) +18
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) +4
Total score 46
4 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone) · +18
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
- Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) · +4
Trivia
What it actually is
- Its orbit family. On a hyperbolic orbit: it is moving too fast for the Sun's gravity to hold on to it.
- Closest approach. At its nearest it comes within 7.68 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
- One-way trip. On a hyperbolic path — it will leave the Solar System and never return.
- Steeply tilted. Its orbit is tipped 82° out of the flat plane the planets share — it spends most of its time well above or below them.
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
- designation
- 2017 K5
- eccentricity
- 1.0042
- full name
- C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS)
- inclination
- 82.26
- mean motion deg day
- 0
- moid au
- 6.67
- name
- C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- HYP
- perihelion au
- 7.68
- semi major au
- -1819
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS) 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/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS) is a rare comet
C/2017 K5 (PANSTARRS) scores 46 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 4 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Hyperbolic comet (one pass, then gone), Never comes near the Sun and Steeply tilted orbit (i > 40°) — 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.