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Comets » 

Comet 51P/Harrington

Above the horizon.  Rise: 17:27 | Tran: 0:56 | Set: 8:20
Alt: 3.37°   Az: 292.41°   Direction: West-North-West

Comet 51P/Harrington is in the constellation of Leo, at a distance of 638,200,942.0 kilometers from Earth. The current Right Ascension is 10h 25m 25s and the Declination is +16° 26’ 16” (apparent coordinates). The predicted magnitude of Comet 51P/Harrington is 25.79 (data provided by JPL Horizons).

Finder Charts

Map showing Comet 51P/Harrington in Leo on February, 12 2025. Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View interactive star map
Sky map showing Comet 51P/Harrington in Leo on February, 12 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 24m 04s
Dec: +16° 33’ 56”
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 25m 25s
+16° 26’ 16”
07h 03m 13s
17h 28m 38s

J2000

10h 24m 04s
+16° 33’ 56”

Additional Information

Leo
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
25.79

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 Greenwich, UK (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 73.5°
Max altitude: 54.9°
Azimuth: 286.4°
  • 51P/Harrington is above the horizon from Greenwich, UK.
  • Right now it is placed in the West-North-West direction at an altitude of 3.37° 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 638,200,942.0 kilometers, equivalent to 4.2661097983 Astronomical Units. Light takes 35m 28.809s to travel from Comet 51P/Harrington and arrive to us.

638,200,942.0
4.2661097983
35m 28.809s

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 Feb 05 10h 29m 49s +15° 57’ 43” 25.78 Leo
2025 Feb 06 10h 29m 14s +16° 01’ 38” 25.78 Leo
2025 Feb 07 10h 28m 38s +16° 05’ 33” 25.78 Leo
2025 Feb 08 10h 28m 03s +16° 09’ 27” 25.78 Leo
2025 Feb 09 10h 27m 28s +16° 13’ 21” 25.78 Leo
2025 Feb 10 10h 26m 51s +16° 17’ 14” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 11 10h 26m 15s +16° 21’ 08” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 12 10h 25m 38s +16° 24’ 59” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 13 10h 25m 01s +16° 28’ 50” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 14 10h 24m 24s +16° 32’ 40” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 15 10h 23m 47s +16° 36’ 29” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 16 10h 23m 09s +16° 40’ 15” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 17 10h 22m 31s +16° 44’ 01” 25.79 Leo
2025 Feb 18 10h 21m 54s +16° 47’ 45” 25.79 Leo

Additional Resources