Comet 123P/West-Hartley
Comet 123P/West-Hartley Position
Comet 123P/West-Hartley is currently in the constellation of Sagittarius. The current Right Ascension is 18h 09m 38s and the Declination is -31° 39’ 47”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet 123P/West-Hartley is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Field of view: 60x30 degrees
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Higher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Comet 123P/West-Hartley is right now (view fullscreen)
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
The distance of Comet 123P/West-Hartley from Earth is currently 491,880,774 kilometers, equivalent to 3.288020 Astronomical Units. Light takes 27 minutes and 20.7377 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 January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of Comet 123P/West-Hartley to Earth happens on Thu Feb 28 2019 at a distance of 1.19958045 Astronomical Units, or 179,454,681 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 20.69.
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.
Comet 123P/West-Hartley rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Comet 123P/West-Hartley 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 123P/West-Hartley 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 123P/West-Hartley Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 123P/West-Hartley at epoch 14 August 2015 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457249.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.44927079 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 15.35434947° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 2.12611187 AU 318,061,810 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
5.59496720 AU 836,995,181 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
3.86053953 AU 577,528,495 km |
| Orbital period | period |
7.5900 years 2,770.5783 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 2019-Feb-04 07:24:14 2,458,518.8085 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 2026-Sep-05 21:17 2,461,289.3868 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 102.91440751036° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 46.52937240701° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 195.07015237268° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.12993677°/day |
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!
View Comet 123P/West-Hartley in the 3D Solar System Simulator
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Mar 22 | 18h 05m 56s | -31° 09’ 02” | 20.67 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 23 | 18h 06m 29s | -31° 13’ 03” | 20.67 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 24 | 18h 07m 00s | -31° 17’ 06” | 20.67 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 25 | 18h 07m 32s | -31° 21’ 08” | 20.68 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 26 | 18h 08m 02s | -31° 25’ 14” | 20.68 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 27 | 18h 08m 30s | -31° 29’ 20” | 20.68 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 28 | 18h 08m 58s | -31° 33’ 27” | 20.68 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 29 | 18h 09m 24s | -31° 37’ 35” | 20.68 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 30 | 18h 09m 50s | -31° 41’ 44” | 20.69 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Mar 31 | 18h 10m 14s | -31° 45’ 56” | 20.69 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Apr 01 | 18h 10m 36s | -31° 50’ 08” | 20.69 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Apr 02 | 18h 10m 58s | -31° 54’ 21” | 20.69 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Apr 03 | 18h 11m 18s | -31° 58’ 36” | 20.70 | Sagittarius |
| 2020 Apr 04 | 18h 11m 36s | -32° 02’ 53” | 20.70 | Sagittarius |