Comet 123P/West-Hartley

Comet 123P/West-Hartley is currently in the constellation of Aquarius. The current Right Ascension of Comet 123P/West-Hartley is 23h 11m 10s and the Declination is -18° 36’ 45” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 123P/West-Hartley is 25.68 (JPL).

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 123P/West-Hartley from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 123P/West-Hartley?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 123P/West-Hartley from Earth?)
• When does Comet 123P/West-Hartley rise and set?
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 123P/West-Hartley?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 123P/West-Hartley orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 123P/West-Hartley with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 123P/West-Hartley for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 123P/West-Hartley in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 123P/West-Hartley with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 123P/West-Hartley is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 123P/West-Hartley?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 123P/West-Hartley in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 123P/West-Hartley Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 123P/West-Hartley from Earth is currently 965,374,421 kilometers, equivalent to 6.453129 Astronomical Units. Light takes 53 minutes and 40.1425 seconds to travel from Comet 123P/West-Hartley and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 123P/West-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.

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 123P/West-Hartley from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach of Comet 123P/West-Hartley to Earth

Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 123P/West-Hartley to Earth happens on Thu Feb 28 2019 at a distance of 1.199581 Astronomical Units, or 179,454,775 kilometers:

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

Comet 123P/West-Hartley Brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 123P/West-Hartley is 25.68.

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 123P/West-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.

Visualization of Comet 123P/West-Hartley Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 123P/West-Hartley with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 123P/West-Hartley and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Comet 123P/West-Hartley 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 123P/West-Hartley computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 123P/West-Hartley in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Mar 19	23h 05m 53s	-19° 06’ 37”	25.70	Aquarius
2023 Mar 20	23h 06m 38s	-19° 02’ 16”	25.70	Aquarius
2023 Mar 21	23h 07m 24s	-18° 57’ 56”	25.70	Aquarius
2023 Mar 22	23h 08m 09s	-18° 53’ 38”	25.69	Aquarius
2023 Mar 23	23h 08m 54s	-18° 49’ 21”	25.69	Aquarius
2023 Mar 24	23h 09m 39s	-18° 45’ 06”	25.69	Aquarius
2023 Mar 25	23h 10m 24s	-18° 40’ 54”	25.69	Aquarius
2023 Mar 26	23h 11m 09s	-18° 36’ 45”	25.68	Aquarius
2023 Mar 27	23h 11m 54s	-18° 32’ 35”	25.68	Aquarius
2023 Mar 28	23h 12m 39s	-18° 28’ 30”	25.68	Aquarius
2023 Mar 29	23h 13m 23s	-18° 24’ 25”	25.67	Aquarius
2023 Mar 30	23h 14m 08s	-18° 20’ 23”	25.67	Aquarius
2023 Mar 31	23h 14m 52s	-18° 16’ 24”	25.67	Aquarius
2023 Apr 01	23h 15m 36s	-18° 12’ 26”	25.66	Aquarius