Comets

The periodic comet 161P/Hartley-IRAS is tracking toward its closest approach to the Sun, now expected in about 49 days. Automated tracking data put the comet's barycentric speed at 33.49 km/s, with a brightness of magnitude 14.40. At that magnitude it remains a target for small telescopes under dark skies, visible from both hemispheres in the constellation Aquarius.