Comet Halley (1P/Halley)
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) Position
Comet Halley (1P/Halley) is currently in the constellation of Hydra. The current Right Ascension is 08h 15m 58s and the Declination is +02° 33’ 53”.
Simplified sky chart showing where Comet Halley (1P/Halley) 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 Halley (1P/Halley) is right now (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
The distance of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) from Earth is currently 5,173,995,735 kilometers, equivalent to 34.586025 Astronomical Units. Light takes 4 hours, 47 minutes and 38.5921 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 2013 and December 2100 the closest approach of Comet Halley (1P/Halley) to Earth happens on Fri Jul 29 2061 at a distance of 0.47799007 Astronomical Units, or 71,506,297 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 25.54.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Mar 28 | 08h 16m 18s | +02° 29’ 14” | 25.53 | Hydra |
| 2020 Mar 29 | 08h 16m 14s | +02° 29’ 53” | 25.53 | Hydra |
| 2020 Mar 30 | 08h 16m 11s | +02° 30’ 30” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Mar 31 | 08h 16m 09s | +02° 31’ 08” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 01 | 08h 16m 06s | +02° 31’ 45” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 02 | 08h 16m 04s | +02° 32’ 22” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 03 | 08h 16m 01s | +02° 32’ 59” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 04 | 08h 15m 59s | +02° 33’ 37” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 05 | 08h 15m 56s | +02° 34’ 14” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 06 | 08h 15m 55s | +02° 34’ 50” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 07 | 08h 15m 52s | +02° 35’ 26” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 08 | 08h 15m 51s | +02° 36’ 02” | 25.54 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 09 | 08h 15m 48s | +02° 36’ 38” | 25.55 | Hydra |
| 2020 Apr 10 | 08h 15m 47s | +02° 37’ 13” | 25.55 | Hydra |