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Comet 51P/Harrington Ephemeris Calculator
Compute the position of Comet 51P/Harrington for any date and time between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100 and display the results on an interactive star map.
In Evidence
Comet 51P/Harrington
Comet 51P/Harrington is currently in the constellation of Aries. The current Right Ascension of Comet 51P/Harrington is 03h 22m 15s and the Declination is +17° 29’ 59” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 51P/Harrington is 22.95 (JPL).
Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet 51P/Harrington from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):
- 51P/Harrington is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
- Right now it is placed in the South-South-East direction at an altitude of 54° 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.
Comet 51P/Harrington Position and Finder Charts
Below we provide Comet 51P/Harrington finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees, while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees. Click on each finder chart to access a full screen interactive Online Planetarium.
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
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Field of view: 10x6 degrees
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Higher 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.
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.
Comet 51P/Harrington Distance from Earth
The distance of Comet 51P/Harrington from Earth is currently 436,082,785 kilometers, equivalent to 2.915033 Astronomical Units. Light takes 24 minutes and 14.6156 seconds to travel from Comet 51P/Harrington and arrive to us.
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.
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 of Comet 51P/Harrington to Earth
Between 1 January 2013 and 30 December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 51P/Harrington to Earth happens on Mon Sep 5 2022 at a distance of 0.719952 Astronomical Units, or 107,703,295 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Comet 51P/Harrington Brightness
The current visual magnitude of Comet 51P/Harrington is 22.95.
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 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.
Comet 51P/Harrington 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. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 51P/Harrington in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Mar 20 | 03h 07m 32s | +16° 20’ 47” | 22.82 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 21 | 03h 09m 28s | +16° 30’ 15” | 22.84 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 22 | 03h 11m 25s | +16° 39’ 37” | 22.85 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 23 | 03h 13m 21s | +16° 48’ 52” | 22.87 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 24 | 03h 15m 17s | +16° 58’ 01” | 22.89 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 25 | 03h 17m 15s | +17° 07’ 05” | 22.90 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 26 | 03h 19m 10s | +17° 16’ 04” | 22.92 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 27 | 03h 21m 07s | +17° 24’ 56” | 22.94 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 28 | 03h 23m 04s | +17° 33’ 41” | 22.96 | Aries |
| 2023 Mar 29 | 03h 25m 00s | +17° 42’ 20” | 22.97 | Taurus |
| 2023 Mar 30 | 03h 26m 57s | +17° 50’ 53” | 22.99 | Taurus |
| 2023 Mar 31 | 03h 28m 54s | +17° 59’ 21” | 23.00 | Taurus |
| 2023 Apr 01 | 03h 30m 51s | +18° 07’ 41” | 23.02 | Taurus |
| 2023 Apr 02 | 03h 32m 48s | +18° 15’ 56” | 23.04 | Taurus |