Howard became interested in astronomy at a very young age. He obtained his first telescope shortly thereafter, and used it to observe the planet Mars when it came close to the Earth in the fall of 1956. Later, he became active in the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, where he served on the Observation Committee and the Board of Directors of the Montreal Centre.

From 1968-89 he was a Producer/Lecturer with the Dow Planetarium of the City of Montreal (now called the Planétarium de Montréal). He gave nearly two thousand live planetarium shows to the public, and also produced more than dozen shows for this planetarium; some of these shows played to audiences in planetaria elsewhere in Canada and the US. He has also lectured on astronomy at the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, and has given numerous presentations on astronomy to groups around the National Capital Region. He continues to observe the sky with his five telescopes.