Comet Hartley 2, officially designated 103P/Hartley is a small periodic comet with an orbital period of 6.46 years. It was discovered by Malcolm Hartley in 1986 at the Schmidt Telescope Unit in Siding Spring, Australia. Its diameter is estimated to be 1.2 to 1.6 km.

There is a planned flyby of Hartley 2 by the Deep Impact spacecraft with a closest approach of 700 kilometers on November 4, 2010. This is part of the EPOXI mission.

The comet will pass within 0.12 AU of the Earth on October 20 2010, which is only eight days before coming to closest approach to the Sun on October 28, 2010. During this passage, the comet may be visible to the naked eye at apparent magnitude 5 in the constellation Auriga, if you know where to look and are viewing from a dark sky location.

Here you will find comet ephemeris for August 2010 and a map for search.

Ephemeris 

    Date          UT        R.A. (J2000) Decl.  Delta     r       El.    Ph.   m   Sky Motion
                  h m s                                                                           "/min  P.A.
2010 08 01 000000 22 27 59.0 +23 44 29 0.703 1.568 131.0 29.2 11.6 1.09 020.0
2010 08 02 000000 22 28 38.0 +24 09 12 0.691 1.560 131.3 29.3 11.6 1.10 019.7
2010 08 03 000000 22 29 16.8 +24 34 05 0.679 1.551 131.5 29.3 11.5 1.10 019.4
2010 08 04 000000 22 29 55.2 +24 59 09 0.668 1.542 131.8 29.4 11.4 1.11 019.0
2010 08 05 000000 22 30 33.4 +25 24 24 0.656 1.534 132.0 29.4 11.3 1.11 018.8
2010 08 06 000000 22 31 11.4 +25 49 48 0.645 1.525 132.3 29.5 11.2 1.12 018.5
2010 08 07 000000 22 31 49.2 +26 15 23 0.634 1.516 132.5 29.6 11.1 1.13 018.2
2010 08 08 000000 22 32 26.9 +26 41 07 0.623 1.508 132.7 29.6 11.0 1.13 018.0
2010 08 09 000000 22 33 04.5 +27 07 02 0.612 1.499 132.9 29.7 11.0 1.14 017.8
2010 08 10 000000 22 33 42.1 +27 33 06 0.601 1.491 133.1 29.8 10.9 1.14 017.7
2010 08 11 000000 22 34 19.7 +27 59 21 0.591 1.482 133.2 29.9 10.8 1.15 017.5
2010 08 12 000000 22 34 57.4 +28 25 46 0.580 1.474 133.4 30.0 10.7 1.16 017.4
2010 08 13 000000 22 35 35.3 +28 52 21 0.570 1.465 133.5 30.1 10.6 1.16 017.3
2010 08 14 000000 22 36 13.4 +29 19 06 0.560 1.457 133.6 30.2 10.5 1.17 017.3
2010 08 15 000000 22 36 51.9 +29 46 01 0.550 1.448 133.7 30.3 10.4 1.18 017.3
2010 08 16 000000 22 37 30.9 +30 13 07 0.539 1.440 133.8 30.5 10.3 1.19 017.3
2010 08 17 000000 22 38 10.3 +30 40 23 0.530 1.432 133.9 30.6 10.2 1.19 017.4
2010 08 18 000000 22 38 50.5 +31 07 51 0.520 1.423 134.0 30.8 10.1 1.20 017.5
2010 08 19 000000 22 39 31.3 +31 35 29 0.510 1.415 134.1 30.9 10.1 1.21 017.6
2010 08 20 000000 22 40 13.0 +32 03 19 0.500 1.407 134.1 31.1 10.0 1.22 017.7
2010 08 21 000000 22 40 55.7 +32 31 20 0.491 1.399 134.1 31.3 09.9 1.23 018.0
2010 08 22 000000 22 41 39.5 +32 59 33 0.482 1.391 134.1 31.5 09.8 1.24 018.2
2010 08 23 000000 22 42 24.5 +33 27 57 0.472 1.382 134.1 31.7 09.7 1.25 018.5
2010 08 24 000000 22 43 10.9 +33 56 34 0.463 1.374 134.1 31.9 09.6 1.26 018.8
2010 08 25 000000 22 43 58.9 +34 25 23 0.454 1.366 134.1 32.1 09.5 1.28 019.2
2010 08 26 000000 22 44 48.5 +34 54 26 0.445 1.358 134.1 32.3 09.4 1.29 019.6
2010 08 27 000000 22 45 40.0 +35 23 41 0.436 1.351 134.0 32.5 09.3 1.30 020.0
2010 08 28 000000 22 46 33.6 +35 53 09 0.428 1.343 134.0 32.8 09.2 1.32 020.5
2010 08 29 000000 22 47 29.5 +36 22 51 0.419 1.335 133.9 33.0 09.1 1.33 021.1
2010 08 30 000000 22 48 27.9 +36 52 47 0.410 1.327 133.8 33.3 09.0 1.35 021.7
2010 08 31 000000 22 49 29.0 +37 22 58 0.402 1.320 133.7 33.6 08.9 1.36 022.3

Path of 103P/Hartley

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