178P/Hug–Bell

178P/Hug–Bell is a Jupiter-family comet with a 6.9-year orbit around the Sun. It was discovered by Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers' League members Gary Hug and Graham Bell and is thought to be the first periodic comet to be discovered by amateurs.^[1] It was declared a comet less than two days after its initial discovery, after having its course confirmed on previous images.^[6]

178P/Hug–Bell

Comet Hug–Bell photographed from the Zwicky Transient Facility on 7 January 2021
Discovery[1]
Discovered by	Gary Hug Graham E. Bell
Discovery site	Eskridge, Kansas
Discovery date	10 December 1999
Designations
MPC designation	P/1999 X1,[1] P/2006 O1[2]
Orbital characteristics[3][4]
Epoch	4 June 2027 (JD 2461560.5)
Observation arc	21.43 years
Earliest precovery date	10 October 1999
Number of observations	1,074
Aphelion	5.385 AU
Perihelion	1.880 AU
Semi-major axis	3.633 AU
Eccentricity	0.48245
Orbital period	6.924 years
Inclination	11.091°
Longitude of ascending node	102.79°
Argument of periapsis	297.95°
Mean anomaly	220.91°
Last perihelion	16 July 2020
Next perihelion	21 June 2027[5]
TJupiter	2.871
Earth MOID	0.971 AU
Jupiter MOID	0.655 AU
Comet total magnitude (M1)	13.2
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2)	15.9

Orbit

Hug–Bell's orbital period is about seven years; its orbit is eccentric, though less so than many comets. Hug-Bell's orbit lies entirely outside the orbit of Mars, but at its aphelion overlaps in solar distance with the orbit of Jupiter. Because it never comes closer to the Sun than about 2 AU (300 million km), it is never expected to be a very bright comet, with a typical perihelion magnitude of 18–19.^[7]