Hartley 2 in October 2010
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 0.121 AU (11.3 million miles or 18 million km) of the Earth on October 20 2010, which is only eight days before coming to closest approach to the Sun on October 28, 2010 at a distance of 1.059 AU from the Sun. 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 October 2010 and a map for search.
Ephemeris of 103P/Hartley Date UT R.A. (J2000) Decl. Delta r El. Ph. m Sky Motion Constellation
h m s "/min P.A.
2010 10 01 000000 00 41 48.1 +55 02 15 0.184 1.124 127.9 44.7 5.8 3.76 070.5 Cas 2010 10 02 000000 00 52 07.4 +55 30 57 0.179 1.119 127.7 45.0 5.7 3.97 073.4 Cas 2010 10 03 000000 01 03 18.6 +55 56 27 0.174 1.115 127.5 45.4 5.6 4.19 076.4 Cas 2010 10 04 000000 01 15 23.9 +56 17 58 0.168 1.111 127.4 45.7 5.5 4.42 079.6 Cas 2010 10 05 000000 01 28 24.3 +56 34 33 0.164 1.107 127.2 46.1 5.4 4.67 082.9 Cas 2010 10 06 000000 01 42 19.4 +56 45 13 0.159 1.103 127.0 46.4 5.4 4.93 086.4 Cas 2010 10 07 000000 01 57 07.2 +56 48 51 0.154 1.099 126.8 46.7 5.3 5.20 090.1 Per 2010 10 08 000000 02 12 43.3 +56 44 17 0.150 1.095 126.6 47.1 5.2 5.49 093.9 Per 2010 10 09 000000 02 29 01.1 +56 30 19 0.146 1.092 126.4 47.4 5.1 5.78 097.9 Per 2010 10 10 000000 02 45 51.4 +56 05 52 0.142 1.089 126.2 47.8 5.0 6.07 101.9 Per 2010 10 11 000000 03 03 03.3 +55 29 55 0.138 1.086 125.9 48.1 4.9 6.37 105.9 Per 2010 10 12 000000 03 20 24.2 +54 41 41 0.135 1.083 125.6 48.5 4.8 6.67 109.9 Per 2010 10 13 000000 03 37 40.7 +53 40 39 0.132 1.080 125.3 48.9 4.8 6.95 113.9 Cam 2010 10 14 000000 03 54 40.2 +52 26 35 0.130 1.077 125.0 49.4 4.7 7.22 117.7 Per 2010 10 15 000000 04 11 10.9 +50 59 41 0.127 1.075 124.6 49.8 4.6 7.47 121.3 Per 2010 10 16 000000 04 27 03.1 +49 20 27 0.125 1.072 124.2 50.3 4.6 7.68 124.8 Per 2010 10 17 000000 04 42 09.3 +47 29 45 0.124 1.070 123.7 50.8 4.5 7.87 127.9 Per 2010 10 18 000000 04 56 24.5 +45 28 44 0.122 1.068 123.2 51.3 4.5 8.00 130.9 Aur 2010 10 19 000000 05 09 45.9 +43 18 47 0.121 1.067 122.6 51.9 4.5 8.10 133.6 Aur 2010 10 20 000000 05 22 12.5 +41 01 30 0.121 1.065 122.0 52.5 4.5 8.14 136.0 Aur 2010 10 21 000000 05 33 45.0 +38 38 33 0.121 1.064 121.4 53.1 4.4 8.12 138.2 Aur 2010 10 22 000000 05 44 25.2 +36 11 38 0.121 1.062 120.7 53.7 4.4 8.06 140.1 Aur 2010 10 23 000000 05 54 15.5 +33 42 25 0.122 1.061 120.0 54.3 4.4 7.94 141.8 Aur 2010 10 24 000000 06 03 18.9 +31 12 28 0.123 1.060 119.3 54.9 4.5 7.78 143.4 Aur 2010 10 25 000000 06 11 38.6 +28 43 13 0.124 1.060 118.6 55.5 4.5 7.58 144.7 Aur 2010 10 26 000000 06 19 18.0 +26 15 54 0.126 1.059 117.9 56.0 4.5 7.34 145.9 Gem 2010 10 27 000000 06 26 20.1 +23 51 36 0.128 1.059 117.3 56.5 4.5 7.08 147.0 Gem 2010 10 28 000000 06 32 47.9 +21 31 10 0.130 1.059 116.7 57.0 4.6 6.79 148.0 Gem 2010 10 29 000000 06 38 44.5 +19 15 16 0.133 1.059 116.1 57.4 4.6 6.50 148.9 Gem 2010 10 30 000000 06 44 12.3 +17 04 24 0.136 1.059 115.5 57.8 4.7 6.19 149.6 Gem 2010 10 31 000000 06 49 13.9 +14 58 53 0.139 1.059 115.0 58.1 4.7 5.88 150.4 Gem
Path of 103P/Hartley
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