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🌎  Observing from: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]
🌅 Sunrise: 6:45  ☀️ Transit: 13:03  🌅 Sunset: 19:23

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 12m 42s and the Declination is +02° 49’ 09” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is 25.57 (JPL).

08h 12m 42s
+02° 49’ 09”
Hydra
25.57

Today's rise, transit and set times of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

Azimuth: 87.2°
Max altitude: 41.3°
Azimuth: 272.8°
  • Halley's Comet is below the horizon from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change].
  • Given its current magnitude, Halley's Comet 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.

Available Resources

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.

Map showing Comet Halley (1P/Halley) in Hydra on March, 28 2023
Field of view: 50x30 degrees
View fullscreen
Map showing Comet Halley (1P/Halley) in Hydra on March, 28 2023
Field of view: 10x6 degrees
View fullscreen
 = visible to the naked eye
 = binocular, brighter than 10th magnitude
= current altitude ≥ 30°   = current altitude < 30°   = below the horizon
Location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]

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.

Halley's Comet
RA: 08h 12m 42s
Dec: +02° 49’ 09”
Deep sky finder chart for Comet Halley (1P/Halley)
Field of view: 60x40 arcmins
View fullscreen

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 5,188,276,647 kilometers, equivalent to 34.681487 Astronomical Units. Light takes 4 hours, 48 minutes and 26.2281 seconds to travel from Comet Halley (1P/Halley) and arrive to us.

5,188,276,647
34.681487
4 hours, 48 minutes and 26.2281 seconds

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.

Chart of the distance of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 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 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 1 January 1600 and 30 December 2499, the closest approach of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) to Earth happens on Sat May 8 2134 at a distance of 0.093428 Astronomical Units, or 13,976,613 kilometers:

Sat May 8 2134
13,976,613
0.093428

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 25.57.

25.57
-
-

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.

Chart of the magnitude of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) as a function of time

Comet Halley (1P/Halley) Orbital Elements

The following table lists the orbital elements of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) at epoch 01 January 1970 00:00 UTC (JD: 2439857.5). Source: JPL Small-Body Database

Element Symbol Value
Orbit eccentricity e 0.96794279
Orbit inclination i 162.18787119°
Perihelion distance q 0.57471580 AU
85,976,260 km
Aphelion distance Q 35.28091967 AU
5,277,950,470 km
Semi-major axis a 17.92781774 AU
2,681,963,365 km
Orbital period period 75.9101 years
27,726.1500 days
Date of perihelion transit Tp 1986-Feb-08 15:34:24
2,446,470.1489 JD
Next perihelion transit 2062-Jan-06 19:10
2,474,196.2989 JD
Argument of perihelion peri 112.25779200487°
Longitude of the ascending node node 59.114482936739°
Mean anomaly M 274.14049194984°
Mean motion n 0.01298413°/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!

Orbit Diagram of Comet Halley (1P/Halley)
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
2023 Mar 21 08h 13m 08s +02° 44’ 26” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 22 08h 13m 05s +02° 45’ 05” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 23 08h 13m 00s +02° 45’ 42” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 24 08h 12m 56s +02° 46’ 20” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 25 08h 12m 53s +02° 46’ 59” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 26 08h 12m 51s +02° 47’ 36” 25.56 Hydra
2023 Mar 27 08h 12m 47s +02° 48’ 15” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Mar 28 08h 12m 43s +02° 48’ 51” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Mar 29 08h 12m 41s +02° 49’ 30” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Mar 30 08h 12m 38s +02° 50’ 07” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Mar 31 08h 12m 36s +02° 50’ 44” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Apr 01 08h 12m 33s +02° 51’ 20” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Apr 02 08h 12m 30s +02° 51’ 57” 25.57 Hydra
2023 Apr 03 08h 12m 28s +02° 52’ 33” 25.57 Hydra