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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

2026 February 18, 1306UT

Equipment:

50mm f/5 Refractor and IMX462 camera

Description:

Comet 88P/Howell continues to brighten as it gets closer to perihelion in its orbit on March 18 when it will be 125 million miles from the Sun. In these images the comet was magnitude 11.7 with a greenish coma 1 arc minute wide and no tail visible. Unfortunately, the comet remains very low above the southeast horizon in bright twilight just after it rises above the Catalina Mountains and will continue to hug the eastern twilight horizon as it brightens to magnitude 10 at perihelion. The comet currently is on the other side of the Sun as seen from Earth and will not makes its nearest approach to Earth until next October when it will be 138 million miles from Earth but will have faded to magnitude 15 according to predictions.