Astroblog

Sunday, April 05, 2026

UPATE: Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) did not survive


Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) before heading into the oculting disk of the LASCO C3 imager	Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) debris plume exiting the oculting disk of the LASCO C3 imager

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) before heading into the oculting disk of the LASCO C2 imager	Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) debris plume exiting the oculting disk of the LASCO C2 imager

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) before heading into the oculting disk of the CCOR-1 imager	Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) debris plume exiting the oculting disk of the CCOR-1 imager

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) ISON on the 28/11/2013 before and after its encounter with the Sun.

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) did not survive perihelion, looking a lot like comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) as the debris cloud exited the occulting disks of SOHO Lasco C3, C3 and CCOR-1.

The debris plume is a lot more rarefied than the more condensed ISON plume. But like ISOn we are unlikely to see a C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) style headless tail.


GIF animation of C/2026 A1 (MAPS) heading into and debris exiting the C3 occulting disk	GIF animation of C/2026 A1 (MAPS) heading into and debris the C2 occulting disk

Labels: C/2026 A1, comet, Kreutz, sun grazer

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 3:10 pm 0 comments

Saturday, April 04, 2026

Comet C/2026A1 (MAPS) update and prospects.

UPDATE: The comet did not survive: https://astroblogger.blogspot.com/2026/04/upate-comet-c2026-a1-maps-did-not.html


Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) in the STEREO H1 imager on 30 March. It's the faint streak at the bottom far right.	Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) in the SOHO LASCO C3 instrument on the 3rd of April. the "T" shaped head is an imaging artifact.

C/2026 A1 (MAPS) is a Kreutz family comet, one of a group of related comets that pass close to the sun. Everyone was very excited that it might become an extremely bright ("great") comet. However, it’s brightness increase stalled (everyone gasped) then started up again (everyone cheered), with what looked to be an eruption plume. As the comet neared the sun all eyes turned to solar monitoring satellites to follow its progress (and possible demise).

C/2026 A1 as seen in the GOES-19 CCOR1 instrument.

The comet has passed intact through the STEREO H1 imager (see above) and was in the field of view of the PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) satellite, It had a magnitude of 6.5 and a tail extending more than 3 degrees. It has now passed into the field of view of SOHO and the CCOR1 chronograph.

In both these imagers the comet continues to survive and brighten. It is now around magnitude 2-1, bright but a bit dimmer than the sungrazers C/2012 S1 (ISON) and C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). and not dissimilar to C/2012 E2 (SWAN). SWAN disintegrated before it reached the sun, ISON disintegrated on its pass by the sun, Lovejoy survived solar passage then broke up shortly after.

Currently the two most likely outcomes are that the comet disintegrates before it reaches the sun (like comet SWAN) or it breaks up after perihelion and forms a “headless” comet like C/2011 (W3) Lovejoy. In the latter case we may see a bright tail stretching up from the horizon as twilight fades.

However, astronomer Pedro Rincon reports that MAPS is exhibiting "extremely high cohesion" and is "shedding thin layers from its volatile surface." This suggests there may be a possibility that the comet will survive perihelion. Fingers crossed it will survive after perihelion on the 4th.

If it does survive there is the possibility the comet head will be around -3 to -4 magnitude, (about as bright as Venus), but it will fade rapidly and may be difficult to distinguish against the twilight by the time it is above the horizon in Australia.

Western sky on the evening of Tuesday, April 7 as seen from Adelaide at 18:28 ACST (30 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). If it hasn't disintegrated, Comet C/2026 A1 may be visible low in the twilight.

C/2026 A1 perihelion is 4 April, the soonest we can see the comet head is probably the 6th or 7th depending on how bright it turns out to be. If there is a decent tail we should see it as the twilight fades, possibly as early at the 5th.

Look to the west, bright Venus will be your guide, the comet should be to the west and a bit below. As the twilight fades the comet and its tail may become more visible. As the days progress the comet gets higher, but it will also be dimming rapidly.

Spotters chart for C/2026 A1 (MAPS) looking west from Adelaide at civil twilight (30 minutes after sunset) from the 7th. The circle is the field of view of 10x50 binoculars. Click to embiggen. Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent local time (30 minutes after sunset).

Click this link for a printable black and white spotters chart.

We may see the tail in the late twilight, we may be in a C/2011 (W3) Lovejoy situation, where a bright, long headless tail was seen for a couple of days, or a C/2024 G3 Atlas situation, where a modest length but faint tail was visible in the late twilight for nearly a week, depending on how dusty the tail is. Either would be good.

C/2024 G3 atlas seen on 24 January 2025 from Sandy Point Victoria in the late twilight. ƒ/2.4 15s exposure 7.9 mm ISO3200

Labels: C/2026 A1, comet, Kreutz, sun grazer

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 3:36 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

A Sundiving Keutz Sungrazer Evaporates (and doesn't cause a Coronal Mass Ejection)


Sungrazing comet in SOHO LASCO C2 imagery from 21:38 UT 19 August to 02:24 20 August. I have stacked and overlaid the individual images in ImageJ to show the path of the comet (the bright dot coming in from the right hand side that fades and smears out). The bands are the coronal mass ejection. Click to embiggen.	Animation of the same images of the comet. Yopu can see the comet burn away as it approaches the occulting disk (the white circle shows where the surface of the Sun is). If you look carefully you can see the remnants of the tail being blown away in the last few images. (click to embiggen also)

The Sundiving Kreutz comet I wrote about yesterday entered the SOHO LASCO C3 camera field today, and disintegrated. In the C2 imagry you can see the bright comet eneter the camera view then fade away as it approaches the SUn and evaporates, you can even see the remamants of the tail being blown back by the solar wind.

Some claims have circulated saying that the comet hit the Sun and caused to coronal mass ejection you see. This caim is nased on the C3 images, where it is a bit hard to see the comet as it approaches the occulting disk when the CME blows. In the C3 images it is clear the CME blasts out when the comet is more than two solar diameters from the Sun (also, the CME blasted out from the far side of the Sun, away from the approaching comet).

Labels: comet, Soho, sun grazer

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:33 pm 2 comments

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Comet Swan Enters LASCO C2, and STEREO COR1 and 2

Top row: Left Image, SWAN enters the field of view of the SOHO Lasco C2 imager. Right image, SWAN is noticibly thining and fading as it approaches the Sun.
Bottom Row: SWAN enters the field of view of the STEREO COR1 beacon images. Left image, approaching the Sun. Right image, The faint trace of the comet appears to wrap around the Sun. Image sources, NASA SOHO and STEREO respectively.

Comet SWAN continues it's plunge to the Sun, and appears to be evaporating, in the low resolution STEREO beacon images a faint trace of the comet can be seen rounding the Sun, it's unlikley anything will come out the other side. We will have to wait for the high resolution images to see what is really happening.

Previous posts here and here, a blog post from Comet Al here.

Labels: comet, Kreutz, Soho, Stereo Satellite, sun grazer

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:54 pm 0 comments