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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

2026 June 21, 1035UT

Equipment:

SeeStar S50

Description:

Comet 88P/Howell continues to fade as it moves away from the Sun, but it is slowly getting higher in the morning sky so it looks much nicer in images. It has a green coma 2.4' wide and a very short tail that is hard to notice in these images. The comet brightened to about magnitude 9.5 when near perihelion 125 million miles from the Sun several months ago but has now faded to magnitude 12 as it has moved away from the Sun. 88P will makes its close approach to Earth in October but will be 139 million miles from Earth and will have faded to magnitude 14-15 by then.