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Comet

Parker-Hartley

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119P/Parker-Hartley

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.445 AU
True anomaly
161.29°
Distance from Earth
6.401 AU
As of
22 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.995 AU from the Sun Earth Parker-Hartley — 5.445 AU from the Sun Parker-Hartley
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Parker-Hartley is 6.401 AU from Earth today (53.2 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 45m 57s
Declination
-17° 21′ 29″
Constellation
Libra
Distance from Earth
6.4 AU
Elongation from the Sun
14.4° — too close to the Sun to observe

Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
4.295 AU
Eccentricity
0.2959
Inclination
5.18°
Orbital period
8.9 years
Perihelion
3.024 AU
Aphelion
5.566 AU
Longitude of ascending node
243.68°
Argument of periapsis
181.86°
Epoch · J2000
2457254.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 792.7 LD
2.037 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.94

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
3,237
Data arc
37.6 years
First observed
29 September 1986
Last observed
6 May 2024
Residual RMS
0.69 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
1 September 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.6
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 13
9.6

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Parker, Quentin A. and Hartley, Malcolm
Discovery date
2 March 1989
Discovery site
U. K. Schmidt Telescope, Siding Spring Obs.

Also known as 119P · 119P/1989 E1 · 119P/1995 M2 · 1987 XXXVI · 1989i

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2078-06-28 05:19:00 Jupiter 0.2444 AU 95.1 LD 3.7 km/s
2078-06-28 05:19:00 Juptr 0.2444 AU 95.1 LD 3.7 km/s
2119-04-20 16:51:00 Juptr 1.5379 AU 598.5 LD 5.1 km/s
2161-03-17 22:16:00 Jupiter 0.019 AU 7.4 LD 9.8 km/s
2161-03-17 22:16:00 Juptr 0.019 AU 7.4 LD 9.8 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources