Comet 103P/Hartley 2

Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is currently in the constellation of Libra. The current Right Ascension of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is 15h 27m 52s and the Declination is -15° 04’ 06” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 is 28.77 (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 691,318,248 kilometers, equivalent to 4.621177 Astronomical Units. Light takes 38 minutes and 25.9895 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 Tue Sep 26 2023 at a distance of 0.382611 Astronomical Units, or 57,237,717 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 28.77.

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
2021 Apr 30	15h 32m 45s	-15° 28’ 48”	28.81	Libra
2021 May 01	15h 32m 09s	-15° 25’ 44”	28.81	Libra
2021 May 02	15h 31m 33s	-15° 22’ 38”	28.80	Libra
2021 May 03	15h 30m 57s	-15° 19’ 32”	28.80	Libra
2021 May 04	15h 30m 20s	-15° 16’ 27”	28.79	Libra
2021 May 05	15h 29m 44s	-15° 13’ 19”	28.79	Libra
2021 May 06	15h 29m 05s	-15° 10’ 11”	28.78	Libra
2021 May 07	15h 28m 28s	-15° 07’ 04”	28.78	Libra
2021 May 08	15h 27m 51s	-15° 03’ 56”	28.77	Libra
2021 May 09	15h 27m 14s	-15° 00’ 47”	28.77	Libra
2021 May 10	15h 26m 35s	-14° 57’ 38”	28.77	Libra
2021 May 11	15h 25m 58s	-14° 54’ 29”	28.76	Libra
2021 May 12	15h 25m 19s	-14° 51’ 20”	28.76	Libra
2021 May 13	15h 24m 42s	-14° 48’ 12”	28.76	Libra