Comet 88P/Howell

Comet 88P/Howell is currently in the constellation of Capricornus. The current Right Ascension of Comet 88P/Howell is 20h 16m 26s and the Declination is -23° 33’ 27” (topocentric coordinates computed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom [change]). The current estimated magnitude of Comet 88P/Howell is 15.05 (JPL) while the latest observed magnitude is 9.7 (COBS).

Summary of key facts about Comet 88P/Howell [tip: you can also create a Quick Access page for this data if you access it frequently and would like to have a simpler view]:

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Additional information about Comet 88P/Howell available on TheSkyLive:

Available Resources

• Position and finder charts (see also Where is Comet 88P/Howell?)
• Distance from Earth (see also How far is Comet 88P/Howell from Earth?)
• Rise and set times (see also When does Comet 88P/Howell rise and set?)
• Brightness (see also How bright is Comet 88P/Howell?)
• Orbital elements. Detailed information about Comet 88P/Howell orbital parameters.
• Interactive orbit visualization. 3d visualization showing the orbit of Comet 88P/Howell with respect to the major Solar System objects.
• 15 days ephemerides. Table showing celestial coordinates and magnitude of Comet 88P/Howell for the past and next 7 days.
• Interactive sky chart. An online planetarium application that shows where to locate Comet 88P/Howell in the sky from your location.
• Live position tracker. A high precision sky chart that uses real deep sky imagery to help locate Comet 88P/Howell with your telescope or on your astrophotographies.

Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet 88P/Howell is right now. Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet 88P/Howell?, a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet 88P/Howell in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

Comet 88P/Howell Distance from Earth

The distance of Comet 88P/Howell from Earth is currently 261,045,215 kilometers, equivalent to 1.744979 Astronomical Units. Light takes 14 minutes and 30.7531 seconds to travel from Comet 88P/Howell and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet 88P/Howell from Earth as a function of time. In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth. The value of the distance of 88P/Howell from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in the Live Position and Data Tracker.

Closest approach of Comet 88P/Howell to Earth

Between January 2013 and December 2100, the closest approach of Comet 88P/Howell to Earth happens on Mon Jun 2 2042 at a distance of 0.766145 Astronomical Units, or 114,613,682 kilometers:

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computed with a sampling interval of 1 day.

Comet 88P/Howell brightness

The current visual magnitude of Comet 88P/Howell is 15.05.

The observed magnitude and coma diameter values are derived from the Comet Observers Database by averaging the values reported in recent observations (more recent than 4 days), when available. The Estimated Magnitude comes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and might be inaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictable behavior of comets. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Estimated Magnitude as a directional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet Observation Database contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table to report recent comet observations.

The following chart is the predicted light curve (visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet 88P/Howell, according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuracies for objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepancies between the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

Comet 88P/Howell rise and set times

Today's Comet 88P/Howell rise, transit and set times from Greenwich, United Kingdom [change] are the following (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

The rise and set times are defined as the time at which the upper limb of Comet 88P/Howell touches the horizon, considering the effect of the atmospheric refraction. As the atmospheric conditions cannot be modeled precisely the times reported here should be considered correct with an approximation of few minutes.

Visualization of Comet 88P/Howell Orbit

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and shows the orbit of Comet 88P/Howell with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets. The position of Comet 88P/Howell and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configuration of the objects in the Solar System. This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

Comet 88P/Howell 15 Days Ephemeris

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet 88P/Howell computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval. Click on each row of the table to locate Comet 88P/Howell in our Online Planetarium at the chosen date.

Date	Right AscensionR.A.	DeclinationDec.	MagnitudeMag	Constellation
2020 Nov 17	19h 50m 07s	-24° 54’ 16”	14.88	Sagittarius
2020 Nov 18	19h 53m 48s	-24° 43’ 59”	14.90	Sagittarius
2020 Nov 19	19h 57m 29s	-24° 33’ 27”	14.93	Sagittarius
2020 Nov 20	20h 01m 08s	-24° 22’ 36”	14.95	Sagittarius
2020 Nov 21	20h 04m 45s	-24° 11’ 29”	14.97	Sagittarius
2020 Nov 22	20h 08m 21s	-24° 00’ 06”	14.99	Capricornus
2020 Nov 23	20h 11m 57s	-23° 48’ 27”	15.01	Capricornus
2020 Nov 24	20h 15m 30s	-23° 36’ 33”	15.04	Capricornus
2020 Nov 25	20h 19m 04s	-23° 24’ 24”	15.06	Capricornus
2020 Nov 26	20h 22m 35s	-23° 12’ 01”	15.08	Capricornus
2020 Nov 27	20h 26m 04s	-22° 59’ 23”	15.11	Capricornus
2020 Nov 28	20h 29m 34s	-22° 46’ 33”	15.13	Capricornus
2020 Nov 29	20h 33m 01s	-22° 33’ 29”	15.15	Capricornus
2020 Nov 30	20h 36m 27s	-22° 20’ 13”	15.18	Capricornus