Comet Halley (1P/Halley)
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is currently in the constellation of Hydra. The current Right Ascension of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is 08h 21m 30s and the Declination is +01° 57’ 18” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is 25.52 (JPL).
Summary of key facts about Comet Halley (1P/Halley) [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:
- Halley's Comet is above the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
- It is visible looking in the East-South-East direction at an altitude of 22° above the horizon.
- Given its current magnitude, Halley's Comet is visible only through long exposure photography.
- See also Halley's Comet rise and set times.
- 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.
Additional information about Comet Halley (1P/Halley) available on TheSkyLive:
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) Position and Finder Charts
Below we provide Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.
Also check out Where is Comet Halley (1P/Halley)?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet Halley (1P/Halley) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) Distance from Earth
The distance of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) from Earth is currently 5,098,793,538 kilometers, equivalent to 34.083330 Astronomical Units. Light takes 4 hours, 43 minutes and 27.7445 seconds to travel from Comet Halley (1P/Halley) and arrive to us.
The following chart shows the distance of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley's Comet from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.
Closest approach of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) to Earth
Between January 1900 and January 2100, the closest approach of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) to Earth happens on Sat May 21 1910 at a distance of 0.152544 Astronomical Units, or 22,820,329 kilometers:
NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) brightness
The current visual magnitude of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is 25.52.
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 Halley (1P/Halley), 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 Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) Orbital Elements
The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) at epoch 16 February 1994 00:00 UTC (JD: 2449400.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database
| Element | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Orbit eccentricity | e | 0.96714291 |
| Orbit inclination | i | 162.26269058° |
| Perihelion distance | q | 0.58597811 AU 87,661,078 km |
| Aphelion distance | Q |
35.08231047 AU 5,248,238,957 km |
| Semi-major axis | a |
17.83414429 AU 2,667,950,017 km |
| Orbital period | period |
75.3200 years 27,509.1291 days |
| Date of perihelion transit | Tp | 1986-Feb-05 21:29:15 2,446,467.3953 JD |
| Next perihelion transit | 2061-Jun-01 00:35 2,473,976.5244 JD |
|
| Argument of perihelion | peri | 111.33248510452° |
| Longitude of the ascending node | node | 58.420080976568° |
| Mean anomaly | M | 38.384264476439° |
| Mean motion | n | 0.01308656°/day |
Visualization of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) Orbit
This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) in the 3D Solar System Simulator
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 15 Days Ephemeris
The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet Halley (1P/Halley) in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.
| Date | Right AscensionR.A. | DeclinationDec. | MagnitudeMag | Constellation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Jan 12 | 08h 22m 26s | +01° 54’ 42” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 13 | 08h 22m 18s | +01° 55’ 00” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 14 | 08h 22m 11s | +01° 55’ 18” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 15 | 08h 22m 05s | +01° 55’ 37” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 16 | 08h 21m 57s | +01° 55’ 57” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 17 | 08h 21m 51s | +01° 56’ 17” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 18 | 08h 21m 43s | +01° 56’ 39” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 19 | 08h 21m 37s | +01° 57’ 00” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 20 | 08h 21m 29s | +01° 57’ 21” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 21 | 08h 21m 23s | +01° 57’ 44” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 22 | 08h 21m 15s | +01° 58’ 08” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 23 | 08h 21m 08s | +01° 58’ 32” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 24 | 08h 21m 01s | +01° 58’ 55” | 25.52 | Hydra |
| 2021 Jan 25 | 08h 20m 53s | +01° 59’ 21” | 25.52 | Hydra |