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Comet

Harrington

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C/1954 M1 (Harrington)

Harrington is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 2.06 AU to 6,415.84 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 181,782.9 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
95.663 AU
True anomaly
163.24°
Distance from Earth
95.697 AU
As of
25 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 — 0.994 AU from the Sun Earth Harrington — 95.663 AU from the Sun Harrington
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Harrington is 95.697 AU from Earth today (13.3 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
08h 39m 14s
Declination
+29° 14′ 33″
Constellation
Cancer
Distance from Earth
95.69 AU
Elongation from the Sun
88.24° — 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
3,208.952 AU
Eccentricity
0.9994
Inclination
136.64°
Orbital period
181,782.9 years
Perihelion
2.061 AU
Aphelion
6,415.844 AU
Longitude of ascending node
292.73°
Argument of periapsis
1.42°
Epoch · J2000
2434948.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 406.5 LD
1.0446 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.292

Orbit quality

Observations used
9
Data arc
67 days
First observed
25 June 1954
Last observed
31 August 1954
Residual RMS
0.58 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1954 M1

Named

Sources