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Comet

Harrington-Abell

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52P/Harrington-Abell

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
5.462 AU
True anomaly
202.35°
Distance from Earth
5.21 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 Harrington-Abell — 5.462 AU from the Sun Harrington-Abell
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Harrington-Abell is 5.21 AU from Earth today (43.3 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
20h 48m 25s
Declination
-21° 14′ 29″
Constellation
Capricornus
Distance from Earth
5.22 AU
Elongation from the Sun
98.9° — well clear of the Sun

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
3.859 AU
Eccentricity
0.54
Inclination
10.23°
Orbital period
7.58 years
Perihelion
1.775 AU
Aphelion
5.943 AU
Longitude of ascending node
336.84°
Argument of periapsis
139.66°
Epoch · J2000
2457578.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 312.7 LD
0.8036 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.775

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
1,164
Data arc
8.65 years
First observed
1 October 2013
Last observed
26 May 2022
Residual RMS
0.56 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
7 December 2023

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.30 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 16
11.8

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Harrington, R.G. and Abell, GeorgeO.
Discovery date
22 March 1955
Discovery site
Palomar Mountain Observatory, California

Also known as 52P · 1954 XIII · 1955a · 1962 II · 1962a · 1968i · 1969 III · 1975l

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2031-09-21 15:17:00 Juptr 0.8742 AU 340.2 LD 6.4 km/s
2056-03-07 15:33:00 Juptr 0.9834 AU 382.7 LD 5.4 km/s
2080-07-28 02:31:00 Juptr 0.6569 AU 255.6 LD 5.5 km/s
2103-10-05 00:36:00 Juptr 1.0077 AU 392.2 LD 5.3 km/s
2126-06-02 20:37:00 Juptr 1.105 AU 430.0 LD 5.5 km/s
2149-11-25 15:54:00 Juptr 1.7059 AU 663.9 LD 9.4 km/s
2187-05-19 22:26:00 Juptr 1.0422 AU 405.6 LD 9 km/s

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

Sources