178P Comet (Hug-Bell) has developed a longer tail.

Here’s a picture of 178P taken with the .56 meter reflector at Sandlot Observatory. Its a stack of 16 – 1 minute images taken the early morning of 10-5-20. Each image was moved the distance and direction as the comet in its motion against the star background.

178P 10-05-2020

The comet has sprouted a wide tail about 25 arc-seconds long extending away from the coma. The tails angle is about 260 P. A. or just a bit south of due west. The comet is at 17.7 V magnitude but isn’t going to get much brighter over the next few weeks, topping out about 17.5 V. Its currently up 60 degrees by the beginning of dawn.