88P/Howell

{{Short description|Periodic comet with 5 year orbit}}

{{Infobox comet

| name=88P/Howell

| image= 88P 2020-06-09 NEOWISE image 3-color.png

| discoverer=Ellen Howell

| discovery_date=August 29, 1981

| designations=1981 X; 1987 VI; 1993 II

| epoch=March 6, 2006

| semimajor=3.116 AU

| perihelion=1.366 AU

| aphelion=4.865 AU

| eccentricity=0.5615

| period=5.5 yr

| inclination= 4.3831°

| Earth_moid={{Convert|0.35|AU|e6km LD|abbr=unit|lk=on}}

| Jupiter_moid={{Convert|0.46|AU|e6km|abbr=unit|lk=off}}

| last_p=2020-Sep-26
April 6, 2015

| next_p=2026-03-18

| dimensions=4.4 km

}}

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.

It last came to perihelion on 6 April 2015; the next perihelion will be on 26 September 2020. On 14 September 2031 the comet will pass {{convert|0.074|AU|e6km e6mi|abbr=unit|lk=on}} from Mars. Between 2000–2050 the closest the comet will come to Earth is {{convert|0.76|AU|e6km e6mi|abbr=unit|lk=off}} 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.[https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/metsoc2017/pdf/6125.pdf CORSAIR (COmet Rendezvous, Sample Acquisition, Investigation, and Return): A New Frontiers Mission Concept to Collect Samples from a Comet and Return them to Earth for Study] (PDF). S. A. Sandford, N. L. Chabot, N. Dello Russo, J. C. Leary, E. L. Reynolds, H. A. Weaver, D. H. Wooden. 80th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society 2017 (LPI Contrib. No. 1987).{{cite news |url=http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/2017/08/proposed-new-frontiers-missions.html |title=Proposed New Frontiers Missions |work=Future Planetary Exploration |date=4 August 2017 |access-date=2017-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920093515/http://futureplanets.blogspot.com/2017/08/proposed-new-frontiers-missions.html |archive-date=20 September 2017 |url-status=dead }}

During the 2020 apparition the comet has brightened to about apparent magnitude 10.7 and should reach magnitude 9.