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Comet Near-Earth

Halley

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1P/Halley

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
35.169 AU
True anomaly
180.84°
Distance from Earth
35.456 AU
As of
11 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.

Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Halley — 35.169 AU from the Sun Halley
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Halley is 35.456 AU from Earth today (4.9 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 19m 55s
Declination
+02° 53′ 45″
Constellation
Hydra
Distance from Earth
35.45 AU
Elongation from the Sun
72.92° — well clear of the Sun

Visible from both hemispheres.

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
17.929 AU
Eccentricity
0.9679
Inclination
162.19°
Orbital period
75.92 years
Perihelion
0.575 AU
Aphelion
35.282 AU
Longitude of ascending node
59.1°
Argument of periapsis
112.24°
Epoch · J2000
2439875.5
Orbit class · HTC
Halley-type comet
Earth MOID · 29.0 LD
0.0745 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-0.598

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
8,518
Data arc
158.4 years
First observed
21 August 1835
Last observed
11 January 1994
Residual RMS
0.61 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
21 November 2025

Physical properties

Mean radius
5.50 km
Shape · km
14.9x8.2

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.04
Absolute magnitude (H)
5.5
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 8
5.5

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Palitzsch, Johann Georg
Discovery date
25 December 1758

Also known as 1P · -11 · -163 · -239 · -86 · 1066 · 1145 · 1222

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 7 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Halley at 2134-05-07 12:15 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2134-05-07 12:15 UTC close approach of Halley. Catalogue miss distance 35.6 LD · 1.37 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2134-05-04 to 2134-05-10, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 35.6 LD · 1.37 × 10⁷ km 2134-05-07 12:15 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2134-05-07 12:15 UTC close approach of Halley. Catalogue miss distance 35.6 LD · 1.37 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2134-05-04 to 2134-05-10, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2060-09-09 15:00:00 Juptr 0.9835 AU 382.8 LD 27.6 km/s
2061-08-20 04:39:00 Venus 0.0544 AU 21.2 LD 78.9 km/s
2134-04-09 13:28:00 Venus 0.1436 AU 55.9 LD 84.7 km/s
2134-05-07 12:15:00 Earth 0.0916 AU 35.6 LD 65.3 km/s
2135-02-02 06:29:00 Juptr 1.9946 AU 776.2 LD 27.1 km/s

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

Sources