178P/Hug-Bell (0178P)
TRY AGAIN 2026
Type: Periodic
Perihelion date: 21 June 2027
Perihelion distance (q): 1.9
Aphelion distance (Q) : 5.4
Period (years): 6.9
Eccentricity (e): 0.48
Inclination (i): 11.1
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
Atlas
Amateurs Gary Hug and Graham E. Bell, Eskridge, KS, reported their discovery of a
19th magnitude comet on 10 December 2006, showing a faint tail in p.a. 285 deg on
CCD images taken with a 0.3-m Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector during the course of
their minor planet search and follow up program. Following posting on the NEO
Confirmation Page, L. Sarounova (Ondrejov, 0.65-m reflector) obtained observations
on 11 December showing a tail 20" long in p.a. about 300 deg. C. Hergenrother, Lunar
and Planetary Laboratory, reported that a co-added 1200-s R-band image obtained
with the 1.54-m Kuiper telescope on 11 December showed a 15" coma and a slightly
curved tail > 1' long in p.a. 280 deg.
All of the available astrometry (including prediscovery observations on 10 October
and 7 December by LINEAR) suggested a perihelion in June at a distance of 1.9 AU.
D Tibbets and Gary Hug recovered comet 1999 X1 (Hug-Bell) on 16 July 1999 with
the 0.7-m relector at the Farpoint Observatory Eskridge, Kansas. The correction to
the perihelion time predicted on MPC 48383 was -0.12 day.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
30-Oct-13
18.07
0.11
17.7
0.3
12-Nov-13
17.56
0.12
17.3
0.2
28-Nov-13
17.36
0.07
17.0
0.3
14-Dec-13
17.14
0.05
16.7
0.3
19-Jan-14
17.64
0.10
16.9
0.2
29-Jan-14
18.05
0.09
17.7
0.2
18-Sep-20
18.2
0.4
11-Nov-20
17.5
0.4
07-Dec-20
17.5
0.4
20-Dec-20
17.2
0.4
17-Jan-21
17.7
0.4
08-Feb-21
18.2
0.4
14-Feb-21
18.3
0.4
16-Mar-21
19.0
0.4
13-Apr-21
19.7
0.4