Every world / Comet

Comet Hartley 2

Outline The numbers here are measured. The rest of this page is being written.

The path of Comet Hartley 2 round the Sun, seen from above and drawn to scale, with the white dot at its nearest point. The faint rings are the paths of Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars and Jupiter; it crosses the paths of Mars and Jupiter. Orbit from NASA/JPL Small-Body Database.

Kind: Comet
Distance: 3.476 au from the Sun on average
Once round: 6.48 years
Path: a long oval (eccentricity 0.694), tilted 13.6°
Size: 1.6 km across

Photographed by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft in 2010.

The Sun On the atlas In 3D

Still being written

Its tail and its head
Its path round the Sun
How it was found
Spacecraft that have visited
When to see it

Sources: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database.