The 2026 Comet Everyone May Be Talking About Is Already Heading Toward the Sun
Indian Defence Review••science
Key Points:
- Comet C/2025 R3, discovered in September 2025 by Pan-STARRS and confirmed by Mauna Kea observatories, is set to reach perihelion in mid-April 2026, generating significant interest due to its brightness and trajectory.
- The comet will pass between Mercury and Venus, coming within 44 million miles of Earth on April 27, with a projected brightness magnitude of 3.3, potentially visible to the naked eye under favorable conditions.
- Visibility depends on forward scattering of sunlight by dust in the comet’s tail and the timing near a new moon on April 17, which will provide darker skies for Northern Hemisphere observers.
- C/2025 R3 follows a recent
