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Comet

Peters-Hartley

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80P/Peters-Hartley

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
6.428 AU
True anomaly
177.78°
Distance from Earth
5.61 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 Peters-Hartley — 6.428 AU from the Sun Peters-Hartley
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Peters-Hartley is 5.61 AU from Earth today (46.7 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
04h 00m 11s
Declination
+33° 47′ 33″
Constellation
Perseus
Distance from Earth
5.61 AU
Elongation from the Sun
143.04° — well clear of the Sun

Favours the northern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far south.

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
4.023 AU
Eccentricity
0.5994
Inclination
29.93°
Orbital period
8.07 years
Perihelion
1.612 AU
Aphelion
6.435 AU
Longitude of ascending node
259.84°
Argument of periapsis
339.17°
Epoch · J2000
2457856.5
Orbit class · JFc
Jupiter-family comet (P < 20 y)
Earth MOID · 240.8 LD
0.6187 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
2.513

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
179
Data arc
41.11 years
First observed
11 July 1982
Last observed
21 August 2023
Residual RMS
0.83 ″
Solution · Davide Farnocchia
26 August 2024

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
11.8
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 15.8
11.8

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Peters, C.
Discovery date
26 June 1846
Discovery site
Naples (Capodimonte)

Also known as 80P · 1846 VI · 1982 III · 1982h · 1990 IX · 1990d · 80P/1846 M1 · 80P/1982 N1

Named

Close approaches 9 on record

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2037-02-08 16:49:00 Juptr 0.7722 AU 300.5 LD 10.9 km/s
2060-10-02 21:26:00 Juptr 1.2105 AU 471.1 LD 12.2 km/s
2118-12-26 20:59:00 Juptr 1.8985 AU 738.9 LD 8.5 km/s
2143-01-18 23:39:00 Juptr 1.7535 AU 682.4 LD 8.1 km/s
2167-01-20 12:43:00 Juptr 1.5555 AU 605.4 LD 8.1 km/s
2190-12-07 14:41:00 Juptr 1.3665 AU 531.8 LD 8.1 km/s

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

Sources