Home
Search Objects
Major Solar System Objects
Comets
Asteroids
Spacecrafts
Star Maps
Orbits
public  Ranis, Germany Ranis, Germany  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/Berlin
Sunrise: 5:10 
Transit: 13:18 
Sunset: 21:25
wb_twilight   (Astronomical Twilight)  
Planets Visible Tonight
Planets Visible Tonight
 • 
What's Visible Now • The Sky Tonight
Search  close
Comets » 

Comet 103P/Hartley

Below the horizon.  Rise: 13:08 | Tran: 18:30 | Set: 23:52
Alt: -19.42°   Az: 282.59°   Direction: West-North-West

Comet 103P/Hartley is in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 744,846,452.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 12h 16m 06s and the Declination is -07° 17’ 26” (apparent coordinates). The estimated magnitude of comet 103P/Hartley, computed using JPL Horizons's data, is 22.51).

Finder Charts

The sky charts below show, at different resolutions, the position of comet 103P/Hartley in the sky. Click on each chart to access the interactive star map tool.

Star map showing the position of comet 103P/Hartley in the constellation of Virgo on F, d Y. Field of view: 50x30 degrees. View interactive star map.
Star map showing the position of comet 103P/Hartley in the constellation of Virgo 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 103P/Hartley 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.

103P/Hartley
RA: 12h 14m 47s
Dec: -07° 08’ 56”
Simplified high-resolution deep sky chart showing the current position of comet 103P/Hartley. Field of view: 60 x 40 arcminutes. Go to the dedicated page

Equatorial Coordinates

Apparent

12h 16m 06s
-07° 17’ 26”
07h 27m 33s
19h 43m 40s

J2000

12h 14m 47s
-07° 08’ 56”

Additional Information

Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.51

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 103P/Hartley from Ranis, Germany (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/Berlin):

Azimuth: 97.3°
Max altitude: 32.0°
Azimuth: 262.7°

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 103P/Hartley from Earth is currently 744,846,452.0 kilometers, equivalent to 4.9789910011 Astronomical Units. Light takes 41m 24.540s to travel from comet 103P/Hartley and arrive to us.

744,846,452.0
4.9789910011
41m 24.540s

The following graph shows the distance of comet 103P/Hartley 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 103P/Hartley 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 103P/Hartley 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 103P/Hartley to Earth happened on Thursday 21 October 2010 at a distance of 0.120883 Astronomical Units, or 18,083,776 kilometers:

Thursday 21 October 2010
18,083,776
0.120883

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 103P/Hartley, 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 103P/Hartley as a function of time

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of comet 103P/Hartley 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 29 2025 12h 13m 48s -07° 15’ 39” 22.44 Virgo
Jun 30 2025 12h 14m 06s -07° 15’ 40” 22.45 Virgo
Jul 01 2025 12h 14m 25s -07° 15’ 46” 22.46 Virgo
Jul 02 2025 12h 14m 44s -07° 15’ 57” 22.47 Virgo
Jul 03 2025 12h 15m 04s -07° 16’ 12” 22.48 Virgo
Jul 04 2025 12h 15m 24s -07° 16’ 32” 22.49 Virgo
Jul 05 2025 12h 15m 45s -07° 16’ 57” 22.50 Virgo
Jul 06 2025 12h 16m 06s -07° 17’ 26” 22.51 Virgo
Jul 07 2025 12h 16m 28s -07° 17’ 59” 22.52 Virgo
Jul 08 2025 12h 16m 51s -07° 18’ 37” 22.53 Virgo
Jul 09 2025 12h 17m 14s -07° 19’ 19” 22.54 Virgo
Jul 10 2025 12h 17m 37s -07° 20’ 06” 22.55 Virgo
Jul 11 2025 12h 18m 01s -07° 20’ 56” 22.56 Virgo
Jul 12 2025 12h 18m 26s -07° 21’ 50” 22.57 Virgo

Additional Resources on TheSkyLive