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public  East London, South Africa East London, South Africa  ⓘ
TimezoneAfrica/Johannesburg
Sunrise: 7:11 
Transit: 12:10 
Sunset: 17:08
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Comets » 

Comet 51P/Harrington

Above the horizon.  Rise: 11:04 | Tran: 16:18 | Set: 21:32
Alt: 27.20°   Az: 44.46°   Direction: South-South-West

Comet 51P/Harrington is in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 889,738,097.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 10h 09m 56s and the Declination is +16° 27’ 25” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 51P/Harrington is 26.62 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 51P/Harrington in Leo on June, 21 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 51P/Harrington in Leo on June, 21 2025. Field of view: 15x9 degrees. View in interactive sky chart

High precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 51P/Harrington is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

51P/Harrington
RA: 10h 08m 33s
Dec: +16° 34’ 57”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet 51P/Harrington. Field of view: 60x40 arcmins. View in deep sky object tracker

Also check out Where is Comet 51P/Harrington?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 51P/Harrington in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

10h 09m 56s
+16° 27’ 25”
21h 17m 58s
07h 27m 55s

J2000

10h 08m 33s
+16° 34’ 57”

Additional Information

Leo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
26.62

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 51P/Harrington from East London, South Africa (all times relative to the local timezone Africa/Johannesburg):

Azimuth: 73.5°
Max altitude: 40.5°
Azimuth: 286.4°
  • 51P/Harrington is above the horizon from East London, South Africa.
  • Right now it is placed in the South-South-West direction at an altitude of 27.20° above the horizon.
  • Given its current magnitude, 51P/Harrington 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 51P/Harrington from Earth is currently 889,738,097.0 kilometers, equivalent to 5.9475318254 Astronomical Units. Light takes 49m 27.847s to travel from Comet 51P/Harrington and arrive to us.

889,738,097.0
5.9475318254
49m 27.847s

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 51P/Harrington 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 51P/Harrington 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 51P/Harrington 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 51P/Harrington to Earth happens on Mon Sep 5 2022 at a distance of 0.719952 Astronomical Units, or 107,703,271 kilometers:

Mon Sep 5 2022
107,703,271
0.719952

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 51P/Harrington, 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 51P/Harrington as a function of time

15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 51P/Harrington 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 Jun 14 10h 06m 16s +16° 52’ 08” 26.57 Leo
2025 Jun 15 10h 06m 45s +16° 48’ 56” 26.58 Leo
2025 Jun 16 10h 07m 13s +16° 45’ 42” 26.59 Leo
2025 Jun 17 10h 07m 42s +16° 42’ 26” 26.59 Leo
2025 Jun 18 10h 08m 12s +16° 39’ 08” 26.60 Leo
2025 Jun 19 10h 08m 41s +16° 35’ 49” 26.61 Leo
2025 Jun 20 10h 09m 12s +16° 32’ 27” 26.61 Leo
2025 Jun 21 10h 09m 42s +16° 29’ 04” 26.62 Leo
2025 Jun 22 10h 10m 13s +16° 25’ 38” 26.62 Leo
2025 Jun 23 10h 10m 44s +16° 22’ 12” 26.63 Leo
2025 Jun 24 10h 11m 15s +16° 18’ 42” 26.64 Leo
2025 Jun 25 10h 11m 47s +16° 15’ 12” 26.64 Leo
2025 Jun 26 10h 12m 20s +16° 11’ 39” 26.65 Leo
2025 Jun 27 10h 12m 53s +16° 08’ 04” 26.65 Leo

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