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Comet

Hartley-Drinkwater

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C/1995 Q2 (Hartley-Drinkwater)

Hartley-Drinkwater is a comet in the Comet orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 1.89 AU to 110.87 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 423.4 years. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
48.129 AU
True anomaly
162.71°
Distance from Earth
48.996 AU
As of
24 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 Hartley-Drinkwater — 48.129 AU from the Sun Hartley-Drinkwater
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Hartley-Drinkwater is 48.996 AU from Earth today (6.8 light-hours).

In the sky

Right ascension
12h 31m 48s
Declination
+08° 00′ 43″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
48.99 AU
Elongation from the Sun
29.66° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn

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
56.38 AU
Eccentricity
0.9665
Inclination
168.01°
Orbital period
423.4 years
Perihelion
1.889 AU
Aphelion
110.872 AU
Longitude of ascending node
300.75°
Argument of periapsis
314°
Epoch · J2000
2449966.5
Orbit class · COM
Comet
Earth MOID · 351.7 LD
0.9037 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
-1.561

Orbit quality

Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 6).

Observations used
123
Data arc
45 days
First observed
29 August 1995
Last observed
13 October 1995
Residual RMS
0.89 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
15 April 2021

Visual & observation

Absolute magnitude (H)
9.7
Total magnitude M₁ · K₁ 22
9.7

Discovery & classification

Also known as 1995 Q2

Named

Sources