Comet 17P/Holmes

Comet 17P/Holmes is currently in the constellation of Cancer. The current Right Ascension of Comet 17P/Holmes is 09h 07m 04s and the Declination is +22° 30’ 43” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 17P/Holmes is 21.65 (JPL).

Summary of key facts about Comet 17P/Holmes [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 17P/Holmes available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 17P/Holmes?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 17P/Holmes from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 17P/Holmes rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 17P/Holmes?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 17P/Holmes orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 17P/Holmes with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 17P/Holmes for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 17P/Holmes in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 17P/Holmes with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 17P/Holmes is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 17P/Holmes?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 17P/Holmes in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 17P/Holmes Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 17P/Holmes from Earth is currently 522,435,251 kilometers, equivalent to 3.492264 Astronomical Units. Light takes 29 minutes and 2.6564 seconds to travel from Comet 17P/Holmes and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 17P/Holmes 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 17P/Holmes from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 17P/Holmes to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 17P/Holmes to Earth happens on Thu Aug 20 2048 at a distance of 1.145989 Astronomical Units, or 171,437,521 kilometers:

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

Comet 17P/Holmes brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 17P/Holmes is 21.65.

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 17P/Holmes, 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 17P/Holmes rise and set times

Today's Comet 17P/Holmes 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 17P/Holmes 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.

Visualization of Comet 17P/Holmes Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 17P/Holmes with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 17P/Holmes 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 17P/Holmes 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 17P/Holmes computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 17P/Holmes in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2023 Jan 30	09h 13m 01s	+22° 21’ 47”	21.61	Cancer
2023 Jan 31	09h 12m 14s	+22° 23’ 08”	21.61	Cancer
2023 Feb 01	09h 11m 26s	+22° 24’ 28”	21.62	Cancer
2023 Feb 02	09h 10m 36s	+22° 25’ 44”	21.62	Cancer
2023 Feb 03	09h 09m 48s	+22° 26’ 57”	21.63	Cancer
2023 Feb 04	09h 09m 01s	+22° 28’ 06”	21.63	Cancer
2023 Feb 05	09h 08m 12s	+22° 29’ 15”	21.64	Cancer
2023 Feb 06	09h 07m 24s	+22° 30’ 20”	21.65	Cancer
2023 Feb 07	09h 06m 37s	+22° 31’ 21”	21.65	Cancer
2023 Feb 08	09h 05m 48s	+22° 32’ 20”	21.66	Cancer
2023 Feb 09	09h 05m 02s	+22° 33’ 15”	21.66	Cancer
2023 Feb 10	09h 04m 14s	+22° 34’ 06”	21.67	Cancer
2023 Feb 11	09h 03m 26s	+22° 34’ 54”	21.68	Cancer
2023 Feb 12	09h 02m 40s	+22° 35’ 40”	21.68	Cancer