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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 4:49 
Transit: 12:58 
Sunset: 21:07
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Comet 103P/Hartley

Above the horizon.  Rise: 15:05 | Tran: 20:23 | Set: 1:46
Alt: 11.23°   Az: 118.08°   Direction: East-South-East

Comet 103P/Hartley is in the constellation of Virgo, at a distance of 649,228,984.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 12h 09m 55s and the Declination is -07° 46’ 15” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 103P/Hartley is 22.17 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 103P/Hartley in Virgo on June, 02 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 103P/Hartley in Virgo on June, 02 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

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

103P/Hartley
RA: 12h 08m 37s
Dec: -07° 37’ 46”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 103P/Hartley. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

12h 09m 55s
-07° 46’ 15”
19h 56m 33s
08h 06m 29s

J2000

12h 08m 37s
-07° 37’ 46”

Additional Information

Virgo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.17

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

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 103P/Hartley from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 97.8°
Max altitude: 30.8°
Azimuth: 262.2°
  • 103P/Hartley is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the East-South-East direction at an altitude of 11.23° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 103P/Hartley is visible only through long exposure photography.
  • Go to interactive sky chart

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 649,228,984.0 kilometers, equivalent to 4.3398277058 Astronomical Units. Light takes 36m 5.595s to travel from Comet 103P/Hartley and arrive to us.

649,228,984.0
4.3398277058
36m 5.595s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 103P/Hartley 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.

Chart of the distance of Comet 103P/Hartley from Earth in Astronomical Units (au)

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 from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 103P/Hartley to Earth happens on Thu Oct 21 2010 at a distance of 0.120883 Astronomical Units, or 18,083,776 kilometers:

Thu Oct 21 2010
18,083,776
0.120883

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

Light Curve

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 103P/Hartley, 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.

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
2025 May 26 12h 10m 25s -08° 07’ 03” 22.08 Virgo
2025 May 27 12h 10m 18s -08° 04’ 01” 22.09 Virgo
2025 May 28 12h 10m 12s -08° 01’ 04” 22.10 Virgo
2025 May 29 12h 10m 07s -07° 58’ 13” 22.11 Virgo
2025 May 30 12h 10m 03s -07° 55’ 28” 22.12 Virgo
2025 May 31 12h 10m 00s -07° 52’ 49” 22.14 Virgo
2025 Jun 01 12h 09m 57s -07° 50’ 15” 22.15 Virgo
2025 Jun 02 12h 09m 56s -07° 47’ 47” 22.16 Virgo
2025 Jun 03 12h 09m 55s -07° 45’ 24” 22.17 Virgo
2025 Jun 04 12h 09m 55s -07° 43’ 07” 22.18 Virgo
2025 Jun 05 12h 09m 55s -07° 40’ 56” 22.19 Virgo
2025 Jun 06 12h 09m 57s -07° 38’ 51” 22.20 Virgo
2025 Jun 07 12h 09m 59s -07° 36’ 51” 22.21 Virgo
2025 Jun 08 12h 10m 02s -07° 34’ 57” 22.22 Virgo

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