About C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS)
C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS) is a rare comet. It swings within 6.384 AU of the Sun at perihelion.
A Jupiter-family comet, herded by Jupiter's gravity into a short orbit of under twenty years.
Rare comet 43 EP
C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS)
Position computed live · sbdb
Loading sky survey…
Live ephemeris
This object moves — fetching its current position…
Score breakdown
· 5 badgesRare 50 pts → Epic
- Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) +14
- Never comes near the Sun +10
- Has a proper name +8
- Comet +6
- Jupiter-family comet +5
Total score 43
7 more points to reach Epic.
Badges
- Comet · +6
- Has a proper name · +8
- Jupiter-family comet · +5
- Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) · +14
- Never comes near the Sun · +10
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 6.38 AU of the Sun — inside the orbit of Saturn.
- One lap. A single orbit around the Sun takes it about 1143 years.
- How far it roams. Its orbit swings between 6.38 and 212.22 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
- 212.27
- designation
- 2020 K7
- eccentricity
- 0.9416
- full name
- C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS)
- inclination
- 32.07
- mean motion deg day
- 0.0009
- moid au
- 5.37
- name
- C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS)
- named
- yes
- orbit class
- JFc
- perihelion au
- 6.384
- semi major au
- 109.3
How to see it
Like any astronomical target, C/2020 K7 (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/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS) is a rare comet
C/2020 K7 (PANSTARRS) scores 43 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the rare tier. Another 7 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 5 science badges — Comet, Has a proper name, Jupiter-family comet, Far-flung orbit (a > 50 AU) and Never comes near the Sun — 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.