Comet 103P/Hartley 2

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is currently in the constellation of Leo. The current Right Ascension of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is 11h 35m 59s and the Declination is +06° 28’ 18” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is 21.78 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 103P/Hartley 2 [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:

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Additional information about Comet 103P/Hartley 2 available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 103P/Hartley 2?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 103P/Hartley 2 rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 103P/Hartley 2?)
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 103P/Hartley 2 in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 103P/Hartley 2 with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 103P/Hartley 2?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 103P/Hartley 2 in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Earth is currently 1,130,828,760 kilometers, equivalent to 7.559123 Astronomical Units. Light takes 1 hours, 2 minutes and 52.0387 seconds to travel from Comet 103P/Hartley 2 and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 103P/Hartley 2 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 to Earth happens on Wed Nov 8 2062 at a distance of 1.352552 Astronomical Units, or 202,338,934 kilometers:

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

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is 21.78.

The observed magnitude and coma diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of comets. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated 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.

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 103P/Hartley 2, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 rise and set times

Today's Comet 103P/Hartley 2 rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 103P/Hartley 2 in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2022 Sep 19	11h 31m 14s	+06° 57’ 11”	21.76	Leo
2022 Sep 20	11h 31m 50s	+06° 53’ 23”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 21	11h 32m 29s	+06° 49’ 36”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 22	11h 33m 06s	+06° 45’ 51”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 23	11h 33m 42s	+06° 42’ 05”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 24	11h 34m 19s	+06° 38’ 20”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 25	11h 34m 56s	+06° 34’ 36”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 26	11h 35m 34s	+06° 30’ 53”	21.77	Leo
2022 Sep 27	11h 36m 11s	+06° 27’ 11”	21.78	Leo
2022 Sep 28	11h 36m 47s	+06° 23’ 30”	21.78	Leo
2022 Sep 29	11h 37m 24s	+06° 19’ 50”	21.78	Leo
2022 Sep 30	11h 38m 00s	+06° 16’ 10”	21.78	Virgo
2022 Oct 01	11h 38m 38s	+06° 12’ 33”	21.78	Virgo
2022 Oct 02	11h 39m 14s	+06° 08’ 56”	21.78	Virgo