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Comet Near-Earth

du Toit-Hartley

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79P/du Toit-Hartley

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.827 AU
True anomaly
177.76°
Distance from Earth
3.83 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.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth du Toit-Hartley — 4.827 AU from the Sun du Toit-Hartley
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. du Toit-Hartley is 3.83 AU from Earth today (31.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
01h 04m 15s
Declination
+10° 34′ 22″
Constellation
Pisces
Distance from Earth
3.83 AU
Elongation from the Sun
176.55° — near opposition — up most of the night

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
3.031 AU
Eccentricity
0.5941
Inclination
2.89°
Orbital period
5.28 years
Perihelion
1.231 AU
Aphelion
4.832 AU
Longitude of ascending node
307.84°
Argument of periapsis
253.27°
Epoch · J2000
2454391.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 91.1 LD
0.2341 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.943

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 1).

Observations used
215
Data arc
26.27 years
First observed
27 December 1986
Last observed
4 April 2013
Residual RMS
0.89 ″
Solution · Javier Roa
4 May 2021

Physical properties

Mean radius
1.40 km

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
17.4
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 4.5
17.4

Discovery & classification

Also known as 79P

Near-Earth Object Named

Close approaches 9 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of du Toit-Hartley at 2130-05-06 06:34 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2130-05-06 06:34 UTC close approach of du Toit-Hartley. Catalogue miss distance 178.6 LD · 6.87 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2130-05-03 to 2130-05-09, 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 approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. approximate Sun 178.6 LD · 6.87 × 10⁷ km 2130-05-06 06:34 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2130-05-06 06:34 UTC close approach of du Toit-Hartley. Catalogue miss distance 178.6 LD · 6.87 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2130-05-03 to 2130-05-09, 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 approximate: a two-body Kepler propagation of the catalogue orbital elements, not a numerical integration. The Moon’s position is approximate. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2130-05-06 06:34:00 Earth 0.459 AU 178.6 LD 12.1 km/s
2153-12-15 15:55:00 Jupiter 0.3162 AU 123.1 LD 5.6 km/s
2188-04-22 10:12:00 Earth 0.2725 AU 106.0 LD 6.1 km/s

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

Sources