Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell Position
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell is currently in the constellation of Aquarius. The current Right Ascension is 23h 16m 10s and the Declination is -03° 34’ 30”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars and constellations (see full screen Online Planetarium)
Field of view: 60x30 degrees
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Higher precision deep sky finder chart showing where Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell is right now (view fullscreen)
Also check out Where is Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell Distance
The distance of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell from Earth is currently 781,876,151 kilometers, equivalent to 5.226519 Astronomical Units. Light takes 43 minutes and 28.0581 seconds to travel from Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell 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 52P/Harrington-Abell from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell to Earth
Between January 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell to Earth happens on Wed Jan 28 2037 at a distance of 0.87840329 Astronomical Units, or 131,407,263 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell brightness
The current visual magnitude of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell is 26.24.
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 52P/Harrington-Abell, 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 52P/Harrington-Abell rise and set times
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
Latitude: 51° 28’ 47” N
Longitude: 0° 00’ 00” E
Timezone: Europe/London
Today's Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell 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 52P/Harrington-Abell 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.
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell at epoch 19 November 2014 00:00 UTC (JD: 2456981.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.54038911 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 10.23159989° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 1.77310973 AU 265,253,441 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
5.94258966 AU 888,998,761 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
3.85784970 AU 577,126,101 km |
| Orbital period | period |
7.5800 years 2,767.6832 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 2014-Mar-07 11:58:10 2,456,723.9987 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 2021-Oct-04 04:22 2,459,491.6820 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 139.59844231276° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 336.85163748745° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 33.493882136042° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.13007269°/day |
Visualization of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell 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!
View Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell in the 3D Solar System Simulator
Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 52P/Harrington-Abell in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Mar 22 | 23h 09m 20s | -04° 24’ 15” | 26.33 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 23 | 23h 10m 14s | -04° 17’ 38” | 26.32 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 24 | 23h 11m 09s | -04° 10’ 59” | 26.31 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 25 | 23h 12m 05s | -04° 04’ 19” | 26.30 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 26 | 23h 13m 00s | -03° 57’ 39” | 26.28 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 27 | 23h 13m 54s | -03° 51’ 00” | 26.27 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 28 | 23h 14m 49s | -03° 44’ 20” | 26.26 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 29 | 23h 15m 44s | -03° 37’ 38” | 26.24 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 30 | 23h 16m 38s | -03° 30’ 57” | 26.23 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Mar 31 | 23h 17m 34s | -03° 24’ 16” | 26.22 | Aquarius |
| 2020 Apr 01 | 23h 18m 28s | -03° 17’ 35” | 26.21 | Pisces |
| 2020 Apr 02 | 23h 19m 23s | -03° 10’ 54” | 26.19 | Pisces |
| 2020 Apr 03 | 23h 20m 17s | -03° 04’ 14” | 26.18 | Pisces |
| 2020 Apr 04 | 23h 21m 11s | -02° 57’ 32” | 26.16 | Pisces |