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Comet 123P/West-Hartley

Below the horizon.  Rise: 15:51 | Tran: 21:24 | Set: 3:01
Alt: -30.25°   Az: 55.25°   Direction: North-East

Comet 123P/West-Hartley is in the constellation of Cetus, at a distance of 555,983,442.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 00h 46m 56s and the Declination is -05° 01’ 22” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 123P/West-Hartley is 22.83 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder chart of 123P/West-Hartley in Cetus on November,10 2024
Map showing Comet 123P/West-Hartley in Cetus on November, 10 2024. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

00h 46m 56s
-05° 01’ 22”
15h 01m 45s
15h 48m 41s

J2000

00h 45m 40s
-05° 09’ 30”

Additional Information

Cetus
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
22.83

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 123P/West-Hartley from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 95.0°
Max altitude: 33.5°
Azimuth: 265.0°
  • 123P/West-Hartley is below the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Given its current magnitude, 123P/West-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.

Finder Charts

Finder chart of 123P/West-Hartley
Sky map showing Comet 123P/West-Hartley in Cetus on November, 10 2024. Field of view: 10x6 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High 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.

123P/West-Hartley
RA: 00h 45m 40s
Dec: -05° 09’ 30”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 123P/West-Hartley. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 123P/West-Hartley from Earth is currently 555,983,442.0 kilometers, equivalent to 3.7165197566 Astronomical Units. Light takes 30m 54.561s to travel from Comet 123P/West-Hartley and arrive to us.

555,983,442.0
3.7165197566
30m 54.561s

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.

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

Closest Approach

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:

Thu Feb 28 2019
179,454,775
1.199581

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 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.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet 123P/West-Hartley as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 123P/West-Hartley at epoch 18 September 2015 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457284.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.44927022
Orbit inclination i 15.35454558°
Perihelion distance q 2.12610687 AU
318,061,062 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.59494602 AU
836,992,012 km
Semi-major axis a 3.86052645 AU
577,526,537 km
Orbital period period 7.5854 years
2,770.5642 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2019-Feb-04 08:09:24
2,458,518.8399 JD
Next perihelion transit 2026-Sep-05 21:41
2,461,289.4041 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 102.91844683507°
Longitude of the ascending node node 46.527373044969°
Mean anomaly M 199.61304892378°
Mean motion n 0.12993743°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Comet 123P/West-Hartley
View Comet 123P/West-Hartley in the 3D Solar System Simulator

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. Apparent celestial coordinates are provided.

Date Right AscensionR.A. DeclinationDec. MagnitudeMag Constellation
2024 Nov 03 00h 50m 51s -04° 59’ 00” 22.85 Cetus
2024 Nov 04 00h 50m 18s -04° 59’ 39” 22.84 Cetus
2024 Nov 05 00h 49m 45s -05° 00’ 11” 22.84 Cetus
2024 Nov 06 00h 49m 13s -05° 00’ 38” 22.84 Cetus
2024 Nov 07 00h 48m 41s -05° 00’ 59” 22.84 Cetus
2024 Nov 08 00h 48m 10s -05° 01’ 13” 22.84 Cetus
2024 Nov 09 00h 47m 40s -05° 01’ 21” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 10 00h 47m 10s -05° 01’ 23” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 11 00h 46m 42s -05° 01’ 20” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 12 00h 46m 13s -05° 01’ 10” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 13 00h 45m 46s -05° 00’ 54” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 14 00h 45m 19s -05° 00’ 31” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 15 00h 44m 53s -05° 00’ 03” 22.83 Cetus
2024 Nov 16 00h 44m 28s -04° 59’ 28” 22.83 Cetus

Additional Resources