Comet and Asteroids

[Gaby]

This one put up a show 9 days ago

City-size, cold-volcano comet transforms into a glowing 'snail shell' after major explosive outburst

Following a massive cryovolcanic eruption, the mysterious Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann has been morphed into a giant spiral and is now shining 100 times brighter than normal.

The cryovolcanic comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann experienced a massive outburst on Feb. 10 and subsequently morphed into a giant spiral, similar to a snail shell or an ammonoid fossil. (Image credit: Eliot Herman)

On Feb. 10, Comet 29P experienced a sudden brightening event, roughly equivalent to a 100-fold increase in its luminosity, signaling that it had undergone a major eruptive event, according to Spaceweather.com.

This outburst is one of the comet's "top five" eruptions of the past two and a half decades, experts told Spaceweather.com, and it's the most powerful event since a quadruple eruption in October 2024, which caused Comet 29P to shine 300 times brighter than normal.

However, in the days following the explosive outburst, researchers began to notice something unusual about 29P's expanding coma: The reflective cloud was not evenly distributed around the comet as it typically would be. Instead, the cloud appeared to have stretched out into a rare spiral shape.

The unusual shape likely results from an internal rotation of the comet's interior relative to its nucleus, which causes cryomagma to unevenly spew out of a newly formed vent on its icy surface, according to Spaceweather.com.

This is very similar to the "devil comet," 12P/Pons-Brooks, which appeared to grow demonic horns during the initial eruptions of its solar flyby in late 2023, likely due to a notch on its surface that partially blocked the outflow of cryomagma, experts said at the time.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which made headlines as it zoomed through the inner solar system last year, also displayed evidence of cryovolcanism and likely leaked cryomagma through multiple jets.

Though the shapes are very well described by the plasma discharge comet theory, including the horns.

Here is where it was when it got discharged:

 

[EmeraldR]

Comet MAPS approach close to the sun - Speculation that it could develop into a comet visible during the daylight around its perihelion on April 4th is entirely justified-
This comet's encounter with the sun will be very close. "The latest orbit indicates a perihelion of only ~160,000 km above the photosphere," says Qicheng Zhang of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The corresponding distance for Comet Lovejoy was 140,000 km, about the same. Like Lovejoy, MAPS will pass well inside the sun's corona.

Comet MAPS Approaching Earth: Will It Become Visible to the Naked Eye in April 2026?

A rare comet discovered in 2026 could become visible to the naked eye — or even in daylight — this April. Here’s what to expect and when to look.

starwalk.space

 

[Gaby]

Comet MAPS approach close to the sun - Speculation that it could develop into a comet visible during the daylight around its perihelion on April 4th is entirely justified-

Here's another update on this Kreutz family comet:

SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

spaceweather.com

Remember Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3)? On Dec.16, 2011, that comet skimmed the surface of the sun and survived, becoming a spectacular sight in the southern sky. The same thing could happen just weeks from now. This time the sungrazer is Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1), shown here in a photo from Farm Tivoli, Namibia:​

"How bright will sungrazing Comet MAPS become?" wonders photographer Gerald Rhemann. "Since it was discovered on Jan. 13th, the comet has increased in brightness by 5 magnitudes (100-fold). Speculation that it could develop into a comet visible during the daylight around its perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on April 4th is entirely justified."

Rhemann's photo, which he took in collaboration with astrophotographer Michael Jäger, shows Comet MAPS passing by the "Robin's Egg Nebula" (NGC 1360) in the southern constellation Fornax. The comet has a 6 arcminute-wide green atmosphere and a jet-like tail 3 arcminutes long.

The comet's encounter with the sun will be extremely close. "The latest orbit indicates a perihelion of only ~160,000 km above the photosphere," says Qicheng Zhang of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. The corresponding distance for Comet Lovejoy was 140,000 km, about the same. Like Lovejoy, MAPS will pass well inside the sun's corona.

You can re-visit Comet Lovejoy's near-death dive in the Space Weather Archive: Dec. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 2011.

Whether or not Comet MAPS survives depends on the size and cohesion of its nucleus. "This remains highly uncertain for the time being," says Zhang. "We don't yet know if it is a typical small Kreutz sungrazer that will disintegrate before it gets to the sun--or something more substantial like Comet Lovejoy."

Monitoring is encouraged. The comet is currently 13th magnitude, putting it within range of mid-sized backyard telescopes under dark skies. Southern observers are favored, but some northerners can see it, too. Point your optics here. Sky maps: Feb. 27, 28, March 1.​

 

[Gaby]

It's a shame that one of the best experts to study all this data, is now dead.

'Revolutionary': Vera C. Rubin Observatory found 800,000 objects of interest in a single night

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory sent scientists nearly 1 million astronomy alerts in one night, showing off changes in the sky. Eventually, the telescope is expected to reach 7 million alerts per night.

The newly commissioned Vera C. Rubin Observatory has issued 800,000 astronomy alerts in just one night — a staggering number of nightly discoveries that is expected to grow nearly tenfold by the end of this year.

The telescope, which scans the full sky from its perch atop Cerro Pachón mountain in Chile, produced the alerts to direct scientists to "new asteroids, exploding stars, and other changes in the night sky," representatives for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) said in a statement.

And Rubin is just getting started, as scientists expect it will eventually issue 7 million alerts every night.

"By connecting scientists to a vast and continuous stream of information, [the observatory] will make it possible to follow the universe's events as they unfold, from the explosive to the most faint and fleeting," Luca Rizzi, an NSF program director for research infrastructure, said in the statement.

A sample of five solar systems objects that changed in brightness or position during Rubin's nightly observations. According to the NSF: "As new images are taken, Rubin Observatory’s sophisticated software automatically compares each one with a template image. The template image, built by combining Rubin’s previous images of the same area in the same filter, is subtracted from the new image, leaving only the changes." (Image credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA)

These alerts will enable scientists to collaborate to an unprecedented degree, the NSF noted, because Rubin will spot information quickly for follow-up by other telescopes on the ground or in space. Rubin's alerts may also shed light on ongoing astronomical mysteries that require quick wayfinding to gather more information.

"Scientists will have a greater ability to catch supernovae in their earliest moments, discover and track asteroids to assess potential threats to Earth, and spot rare interstellar objects as they race through the solar system," NSF representatives wrote in the statement. "Scientists can then use these data to better understand the nature of dark matter, dark energy, and other unknown aspects of the universe."

Yeah, the not so rare interstellar objects.

Rubin's alert system is starting up shortly before the observatory begins a 10-year program, known as the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), later this year. Rubin will do nightly sky scans to generate an image of the entire Southern Hemisphere sky every few nights, using the largest-ever digital camera to spot any changes in the view overhead.

The timing is just perfect.

 

[Ca.]

Comet MAPS approach close to the sun - Speculation that it could develop into a comet visible during the daylight around its perihelion on April 4th is entirely justified-

Stefan Burns shares his researched opinion on Comet Maps on the Kreutz sungrazer comet

Feb 15, 2026 #spaceweather #NASA #solaractivity

A new comet discovered on January 13th 2026, C/2026 A1 (MAPS) is from the Kreutz sungrazer family and will either way a very close perihelion to the Sun, or it may even impact the Sun! Because of its unique characteristics, it has the potential to become one of the Great Comets of history. Only time will tell, geophysicist Stefan Burns reports...

 

[Gaby]

Here's an update from XRAS.ru on Comet MAPS. It's expected to become even brighter than it already has, and the sun should interact with it. If there's zero flares, then we'll have to wonder about it.

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) falling into the Sun will be visible to the naked eye a few days before its death

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS), which appears to be a fragment of the Great Comet of 1106, currently has no chance of escaping its previously predicted fate (Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (XRAS) ). Exactly 30 days later, on April 4, 2026, the celestial body will fall into the Sun, and most likely, it will evaporate like a drop of water in the unbearable heat of the solar corona, already at a distance of several hundred thousand kilometers from the surface of the star. Due to the deceleration in the dense solar wind, the influence of solar flares and the enormous reactive acceleration associated with the powerful evaporation of volatile substances as they approach the star, the exact trajectory of the celestial body will remain uncertain until the last moment. But even the most optimistic scenarios, according to which the comet's nucleus will miss the Sun by 100-200 thousand kilometers, in fact, do not leave the object with a chance of life. Most celestial bodies that are careless enough to approach the Sun disintegrate already at a distance of several million kilometers.

It is highly likely that the last days of the celestial body's life will be seen with the naked eye, including from the territory of the country. Calculations show that a sharp increase in the size of the comet's tail as the comet approaches the Sun, combined with an increase in the luminous flux illuminating the tail, will lead to an explosive increase in the brightness of the celestial body in the last 3-4 days, as a result of which it can become visible not only at night, but even in the daytime sky. The latter (the opportunity to see a comet during the day) is not a fantasy and has happened several times in the history of mankind.

Since its discovery in January, the celestial body has already increased its brightness by 30 times and currently ranks 5th in the list of comets with a magnitude of about +11.6. Over the next 10 days, its luminosity should increase by another 2 times, after which it will head the catalog and become theoretically available for observation with relatively simple amateur telescopes (adjusted for the difficulties of observation due to its proximity to the Sun). You can try to search for a celestial body at sunset for about an hour and a half after sunset. According to calculations, the main explosive increase in the luminosity of the celestial body should begin in the last days of March, when the comet's more majestic tail will begin to grow in the sky every day.

Space telescopes and coronographs will allow on April 4 to directly observe the moment of death of a celestial body in images provided from orbit.

It can be noted that history knows of cases when large celestial bodies broke out of the solar embrace and, being mentally buried, unexpectedly emerged "alive" from the solar corona. The last widely known case occurred in 2011, when comet C/2011 W3 pulled a similar trick. However, it seems to have passed further from the surface of the Sun then than was assumed from calculations. It is possible that comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) will be able to repeat this trick by "squinting". At the same time, estimates of the size of the comet's nucleus — about 2 km — leave little chance for this: a speck of dust the size of a poppy seed will have to race close to a fiery ocean one and a half million kilometers in size. We wish her good luck.

Follow the news. This will be one of the main topics of the channel for the coming month.

Laboratory of Solar Astronomy (xras.ru ) (Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (XRAS) )

 

[Gaby]

Here's an update from XRAS.ru on Comet MAPS. It's expected to become even brighter than it already has, and the sun should interact with it. If there's zero flares, then we'll have to wonder about it.

Here's a video which teaches about the plasma physics aspect of comets. It has a nice compilation of comets surviving after making perihelion with the sun, triggering flares.

Will Comet MAPS disintegrate or not? We should expect at least some flare activity from the sun.

 

[Gaby]

Will Comet MAPS disintegrate or not? We should expect at least some flare activity from the sun.

IF comet MAPS survives its encounter with the sun on April 4th, this is how it should look during the first couple of weeks of April:

More information here.

However, we don't know if it will disintegrate during its close encounter with the sun or not. It's open for the time being. I'm okay either or. I'm not sure if a bright comet in the sky would ameliorate or aggravate the global madness right now. We'll see!

 

[Gaby]

IF comet MAPS survives its encounter with the sun on April 4th, this is how it should look during the first couple of weeks of April:

It's still alive, but about everybody is giving it a zero chance of surviving the close encounter with the sun. The comet nucleus is just too small.

Earlier this week, it discharged an X flare from the sun.

After that, there was another minor flare, but on the opposite direction:

 

[Gaby]

Because nowadays, there's pretty much always a comet, next one is PANSTARRS (C/2025 R3).

SpaceWeather

Astronomers were disappointed on April 4th when sungrazing Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) disintegrated in the sun's atmosphere. Forget about it. Comet PANSTARRS (C/2025 R3) is even better:

"Wow!" says Dan Bartlett, who took this picture on April 7th from June Lake, California. "NOW we have a comet!"

Comet PANSTARRS is approaching the sun for a safe close approach (0.5 AU) on April 19th. It will not disintegrate. One week later on April 26th, it will make its closest approach to Earth (0.49 AU) as a naked-eye object, probably around magnitude +2.

Technically, it's already a naked-eye object. The comet crossed the magnitude +6 threshold just a few days ago. In practice, though, naked eye observations are challenging. Binoculars are recommended to see the comet shining low in the early morning sky. Even better, use a camera and telescope. Short exposures will reveal the comet's green atmosphere and magnificent tail: sky map

more images: from Michael Jaeger & Gerald Rhemann of Weißenkirchen, Austria; from Larry Stevens of Portal, Arizona; from the Sormano Astronomical Observatory in Sormano CO Italy​

It's a beauty:

 

[Gaby]

Astronomers were disappointed on April 4th when sungrazing Comet MAPS (C/2026 A1) disintegrated in the sun's atmosphere.

A reader of xras.ru pointed out that there's another comet diving into the sun right now:

Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (xras.ru) (http://t.me/lpixras)

The satellite comet of the previously deceased comet C/2026 A1 is falling into the Sun right now.

A previously unknown comet is currently falling towards the Sun along the same trajectory that comet C/2026 A1 approached and burned up in the solar atmosphere on April 4 (Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (XRAS) ). As of 21:50 Moscow time, the comet is still visible in incoming images from the CCOR-1 coronagraph (CCOR-1 Coronagraph - Experimental | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center ) (video attached to this message) and is located about 5 million kilometers from the surface of the Sun. The celestial body should die in the solar atmosphere around 1-2 a.m. Moscow time.

It is almost certain that the comet should already be visible in the LASCO/C2 coronagraph images (red channel at this link (LASCO Coronagraph | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center )), but this telescope is currently out of contact with Earth, and images will arrive later.

Without a doubt, we are talking about another fragment of the same body from which comet C/2026 A1 was formed at one time, which confirms the hypothesis that the latter is a fragment of an ancient disintegrated great comet. Judging by the brightness, the body size is about 100-200 meters. If the orbit of the satellite comet completely coincides with the orbit of the previously deceased C/2026 A1, then the body has no chance of surviving. Most likely, unlike C/2026 A1, in this case there is not even a theoretical possibility of reaching the surface of the Sun — the new object will evaporate before reaching the dense layers. If the trajectory is different, then the body will have a chance to survive. It will be possible to learn about the fate of the comet only tomorrow morning.

We thank the subscriber of the channel @ExtendedAway, who was the first to notice this event in the comments.

Direct link to the video (3 MB) — link (https://xras.ru/info/images/20260408_comet.mp4 ).

Laboratory of Solar Astronomy (xras.ru ) (Лаборатория солнечной астрономии (XRAS) )

Screen capture of the video:

There you go, a comet all the time. No media coverage, it just took one person observing the coronagraph to make the observation.

 

[Ca.]

SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

THE DEEPENING MYSTERY OF THE MARCH FIREBALLS: If you love a good mystery, look no further than the night sky in March 2026. There were no major meteor showers scheduled for March, yet suddenly fireballs started appearing everywhere.

"During the month of March, reports of very bright fireballs to the American Meteor Society (AMS) suddenly doubled," says Mike Hankey, who manages the AMS's fireball reporting system. "Many of them were visible in broad daylight and created loud sonic booms."

Above: The fireball over Koblenz, Germany, that started the "March Madness." [movie]​

A daytime fireball over Western Europe on March 8th drew more than 3,200 witness reports. Nine days later, a 7-ton asteroid exploded over Ohio with the force of 250 tons of TNT. On March 21st, a fireball broke apart above Houston, sending a fragment through the roof of a house. And those were just the headliners.

Hankey has been running the fireball reporting system for nearly 15 years (indeed, he wrote much of the software himself), so he knew something unusual was happening. When the reports kept piling up, he dove into the data -- and what he found is genuinely puzzling.

"The total number of fireballs people saw was not dramatically unusual," Hankey explains. "But the fraction of big fireballs really surged."

At the 50-report threshold (events bright and loud enough to be noticed across multiple states) Q1 2026 produced 40 events, double the historical average. At 100+ reports, the count also doubled. More than 82% of these large events produced sonic booms, indicating objects penetrating deep into the atmosphere.

​

Hankey wondered if AI might have something to do with it. "People who see fireballs can now talk to their phone and ask AI how to report it," he says. "We naturally wondered if this might be amplifying the number of reports." However, the increase turned on quickly at the start of March, and turned off just as quickly at the start of April--an ON/OFF pattern inconsistent with simple AI amplification.

Digging deeper, Hankey looked at where the fireballs came from. He found not one, but two sources. One cluster of fireballs came from opposite the sun -- the "Anthelion" source. Another came from high declinations -- basically falling upon us from above the plane of the planets. These two directions could not be more different, yet they contributed about equally to the surge.

Predictably, some people wondered if this might have anything to do with interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. "No," says Hankey. "The meteorites dropped by these fireballs were eucrites and diogenites linked to the asteroid Vesta -- not interstellar material."

As we write this in April, the barrage has ended as mysteriously as it began. One thing is certain: When March 2027 rolls around, many eyes will be watching the sky to see if it happens again.

Interstellar Invader 3I/ATLAS Blasting Two Tons of Water Into Space Every Second — Baffling Scientists Again

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS releases water equivalent to 70 Olympic pools daily, providing insights into ancient planetary materials. ESA's JUICE mission captures this unexpected activity en route to Jupiter.

www.ibtimes.co.uk

ESA's JUICE mission uncovers surprising activity from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, offering insights into ancient planetary materials
By Vinay Patel Vinay Patel @Vinay PBPatel Published 16 April 2026, 7:29 AM BST

The interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS is currently discharging a volume of water into the void that could top up 70 Olympic-sized pools every 24 hours.

This finding provides researchers with an incredible opening to analyse the components that built planets in distant solar systems, which may predate our own sun by billions of years.

A Rare Encounter in Deep Space​

The European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer discovered this while it was busy trekking toward Jupiter and its frozen moons. Back in November 2025, the craft used its MAJIS (Moons And Jupiter Imaging Spectrometer) and JANUS (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) sensors to track 3I/ATLAS, which is only the third object ever caught crossing into our neck of the woods from another part of the galaxy.

Much like the comets in our own solar system, 3I/ATLAS began shedding material as it neared the Sun, where solar heat warmed its frozen core. This caused the solid ice to turn straight into gas through sublimation, a violent shift that created the glowing shroud and long tail typical of these objects. While this transition usually makes a comet shine, 3I/ATLAS flared up with a level of intensity that took experts by surprise.

Violent Release of Ancient Gases​

While tracking the object, the MAJIS sensor picked up infrared signals from carbon dioxide and water vapour. Experts refer to these substances as 'volatiles' because they readily turn into gas.

Giuseppe Piccioni, a team member from the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), explained in a statement that frequent sightings of water vapour and carbon dioxide by MAJIS show that frozen 'volatiles' hidden under the surface were being cast off into the void just after the object rounded the sun.

Piccioni noted, 'From the data collected, we estimated an outflow from the comet's nucleus of about two tons per second, equivalent to approximately 70 Olympic swimming pools of water vapor ejected into space every day.'

According to Piccioni, these readings will help experts grasp how the comet behaves after its closest approach to the sun, while shedding light on the traits of 'materials formed around another star billions of years ago.'

A Challenging Unplanned Mission​

What makes the JUICE findings even more remarkable is that they were never actually part of the original plan, with the team only pivoting after 3I/ATLAS was first spotted on 1 July 2025. Capturing these details was no easy feat, as the crew had to work with incredibly brief windows to glimpse the interstellar visitor while its signals remained exceptionally weak.

A lengthy delay followed these sightings, as the information didn't actually arrive back on Earth until February 2026.

Successful Test for Future Exploration​

'We waited a long time, but it was truly worth it,' said Pasquale Palumbo, an INAF researcher and the lead investigator for JANUS. He explained that the stunning pictures captured the visitor's fierce activity as it made its closest pass to the sun.

According to Palumbo, 3I/ATLAS displayed a massive shroud, a tail, and complex features like jets and rays. He noted that this information will let the team examine the 'light intensity, and evolution of the comet's coma and tail' over different periods.

The team expressed great satisfaction with how JANUS performed, viewing it as a perfect trial run for when the craft reaches its ultimate goal: Jupiter and its frozen moons.

Opinion via The Sentinel Network™ Sub Stack on Comet 3I/ATLAS

The Sentinel Network™ (@thesentinelnetwork)

A physicist in Colombia spent twenty years building a framework nobody asked for. Then he used it to weigh an interstellar object. 93% carbon dioxide. Almost no rock. Two ten-inch telescopes. Zero funding. https://youtu.be/_td_VTi4bjI

substack.com