On January 13, 2026, the International Astronomical Union officially confirmed the discovery of the first comet of the new year — C/2026 A1 (MAPS). The object has already attracted astronomers’ attention: it is a potentially very bright “sungrazing” comet that could completely break apart near the Sun. Yevgeny Burmistrov, an expert from Perm Polytechnic University, discussed its origin, chances of putting on a spectacular show, and safety for Earth in an interview with Gazeta.Ru.

Discovered at a record distance

The comet was detected on January 13 at the AMACS1 observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert as part of the MAPS program for searching near-Earth objects. Thanks to synthetic tracking — a computer-based analysis of a sequence of images — it was identified at a distance of about 307 million kilometers from the Sun, a record for similar objects at the time of discovery.

C/2026 A1 belongs to the family of near-Sun, or “sungrazing,” comets. Most are fragments of a giant comet that broke apart many centuries ago. According to calculations, the new comet may be linked to the Great Comet of 1106, described in medieval chronicles as a “white star crossing the entire sky.”

Orbit and fate of the comet

C/2026 A1 has a retrograde orbit — it moves around the Sun in the opposite direction to the planets — with an inclination of about 144.5° and an eccentricity close to one. This is a classic trajectory for Kreutz-family comets: nearly parabolic with an extremely elongated ellipse.

Perihelion (its closest point to the Sun) is expected on April 4, 2026. The comet will pass just 811,500 kilometers from the Sun’s surface. Such proximity almost guarantees the nucleus will be destroyed by extreme heating and tidal forces. However, there have been exceptions — Comets Ikeya–Seki (1965) and Lovejoy (2011) survived their solar encounters and became some of the brightest comets of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Images already show a green coma and a tail. Preliminary estimates place the nucleus at about 2.4 km in diameter — large for a comet of this family.

How and where to see it

Most observations will be conducted using space-based coronagraphs aboard SOHO and Solar Orbiter, which block the Sun’s blinding light and allow scientists to study objects near the corona. From Earth, the chances of seeing the comet with the naked eye are slim, although in the best-case scenario its brightness could reach magnitude −1. The most favorable viewing conditions are expected in mid-April in the Southern Hemisphere.

Is it dangerous for Earth?

Despite its dramatic approach to the Sun, the comet poses no threat to our planet. The minimum distance between the comet and Earth on April 6, 2026, will exceed 143 million kilometers — nearly a thousand times farther than the distance to the Moon.

In brief

The first comet of 2026, C/2026 A1 (MAPS), was discovered on January 13 at a record distance of 307 million kilometers from the Sun. It belongs to the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets and may be a fragment of the Great Comet of 1106. Perihelion on April 4, 2026 — just 811,500 km from the Sun — makes the destruction of its nucleus highly likely. If it survives, it could become exceptionally bright. The best viewing chances are in mid-April from the Southern Hemisphere. There is no danger to Earth, with a minimum distance of 143 million kilometers. This event could become one of the most spectacular astronomical sights of the year.