88P/Howell

88P/Howell is a periodic comet with a 5.5 year orbital period. It was discovered on 29 August 1981, by Ellen Howell. In 1975 the comet's perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) was 1.9 AU, but a close approach to Jupiter in 1978 perturbed the perihelion distance closer to the Sun. During the 2009 apparition the comet became as bright as apparent magnitude 8.

The comet came to perihelion on 18 March 2026. It will next come to perihelion on 8 September 2031 and on 14 September 2031 it will pass 0.074 AU (11.1 million km; 6.9 million mi) from Mars. Between 2000–2050 the closest the comet will come to Earth is 0.76 AU (114 million km; 71 million mi) in June 2042.

In response to New Frontiers program call for Mission 4, a team from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) submitted a mission concept proposal called Comet Rendezvous, Sample Acquisition, Investigation, and Return (CORSAIR) that would perform a sample return from comet 88P/Howell.

During the 2020 apparition the comet reached about magnitude 9.

During the 2026 apparition 88P/Howell should reach about magnitude 10.

On 14 September 2031 it will pass 11 million km from Mars (which is notably closer than 3I/ATLAS passed to Mars).

External links

• at the JPL Small-Body Database· · · · ·
• at Kronk's Cometography
• at COBS