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Comets » 

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

Above the horizon.  Rise: 2:37 | Tran: 6:50 | Set: 11:03
Alt: 5.66°   Az: 131.45°   Direction: South-East

Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is in the constellation of Scorpius, at a distance of 850,017,894.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 16h 24m 35s and the Declination is -19° 27’ 36” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is 33.84 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova in Scorpius on February, 13 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova in Scorpius on February, 13 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
RA: 16h 23m 07s
Dec: -19° 24’ 11”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

16h 24m 35s
-19° 27’ 36”
20h 30m 52s
12h 55m 28s

J2000

16h 23m 07s
-19° 24’ 11”

Additional Information

Scorpius
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
33.84

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 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova from Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 109.5°
Max altitude: 19.1°
Azimuth: 250.5°
  • 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the South-East direction at an altitude of 5.66° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 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.

Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova from Earth is currently 850,017,894.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.6820186679 Astronomical Units. Light takes 47m 15.354s to travel from Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova and arrive to us.

850,017,894.0
5.6820186679
47m 15.354s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 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 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 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 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest Approach

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099, the closest approach of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova to Earth happens on Mon Aug 15 2011 at a distance of 0.061560 Astronomical Units, or 9,209,242 kilometers:

Mon Aug 15 2011
9,209,242
0.061560

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 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, 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 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova as a function of time

Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova at epoch 13 August 2017 00:00 UTC (JD: 2457979.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.82399608
Orbit inclination i 4.24817054°
Perihelion distance q 0.53265015 AU
79,683,329 km
Aphelion distance Q 5.52005760 AU
825,788,865 km
Semi-major axis a 3.02635388 AU
452,736,097 km
Orbital period period 5.2649 years
1,922.9943 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 2016-Dec-31 06:49:10
2,457,753.7841 JD
Next perihelion transit 2022-Apr-07 06:40
2,459,676.7784 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 326.34419840517°
Longitude of the ascending node node 88.934602450647°
Mean anomaly M 42.255823560302°
Mean motion n 0.18720805°/day

Orbit Visualization

Orbit Diagram of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
View Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova in the 3D Solar System Simulator

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova 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
2025 Feb 06 16h 22m 09s -19° 23’ 35” 33.89 Scorpius
2025 Feb 07 16h 22m 31s -19° 24’ 14” 33.88 Scorpius
2025 Feb 08 16h 22m 53s -19° 24’ 51” 33.88 Scorpius
2025 Feb 09 16h 23m 14s -19° 25’ 27” 33.87 Scorpius
2025 Feb 10 16h 23m 35s -19° 26’ 01” 33.86 Scorpius
2025 Feb 11 16h 23m 55s -19° 26’ 33” 33.86 Scorpius
2025 Feb 12 16h 24m 14s -19° 27’ 04” 33.85 Scorpius
2025 Feb 13 16h 24m 33s -19° 27’ 32” 33.84 Scorpius
2025 Feb 14 16h 24m 51s -19° 27’ 58” 33.83 Ophiuchus
2025 Feb 15 16h 25m 09s -19° 28’ 24” 33.83 Ophiuchus
2025 Feb 16 16h 25m 26s -19° 28’ 47” 33.82 Ophiuchus
2025 Feb 17 16h 25m 42s -19° 29’ 09” 33.81 Ophiuchus
2025 Feb 18 16h 25m 58s -19° 29’ 28” 33.81 Ophiuchus
2025 Feb 19 16h 26m 12s -19° 29’ 47” 33.80 Ophiuchus

Additional Resources