Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Weeks after the buzz over an interstellar comet coming close to Earth from outside the Solar System, a new visitor is inbound. Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) is passing through skies of Earth from the edge of the Solar System.
Discovered in March 2024 by Polish astronomer Kacper Wierzcho during a routine Mt. Lemmon Survey scan, Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) emerged as a faint 20th-magnitude object in Draco, marking humanity’s first detection of this ancient visitor from the Solar System’s distant fringes.
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This hyperbolic Oort Cloud comet, on an inbound journey spanning millions of years, reached perihelion, closest position to the Sun, on January 20, 2026, at 0.566 AU from the Sun, about 85 million km, before its one-way ejection into interstellar space.
WHERE DID COMET C/2024 E1 (WIERZCHOS) COME FROM?
The comet is moving on a path that will take it out of the Solar System forever. Scientists know this because its orbit shows it will not return after passing the Sun this time. Earlier images of the comet taken in February 2024 helped confirm the first observations.
The comet likely came from the Oort Cloud, a distant region filled with icy objects far beyond Pluto. Its unusual path means this may be the last time humans can see it, because the Sun’s gravity and the pull of planets will send it back into deep space permanently.
The comet passed close to Venus on January 1, 2026, at a distance of about 0.191 astronomical units (AU). It will come closest to Earth’s orbital distance, about 1 AU from Earth, on February 17.
Skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere will have the best chance to see it, especially when it appears in the direction of the Sagittarius constellation.
WHAT IS COMET C/2024 E1 (WIERZCHOS) MADE OF?
Scientists found that the comet’s activity is mainly caused by carbon dioxide gas, not carbon monoxide, which is more commonly seen in comets. Carbon monoxide may have been lost earlier in the comet’s history.
Observations from the James Webb Space Telescope in early 2025, when the comet was still far from the Sun, did not detect carbon monoxide.
The comet’s solid center (called the nucleus) is estimated to be between 2 and 10 kilometres wide, which is smaller than earlier estimates of about 13.7 kilometres.
As the comet warmed up near the Sun, it produced a cloud of gas and dust called a coma, which grew to about 3 arcminutes wide, and a tail stretching about 1 degree across the sky by late January.
The comet became brightest at around magnitude 6.5 to 7, which means it was just visible with binoculars or a small backyard telescope. This was slightly dimmer than earlier predictions, but still impressive considering the comet was more than 93 million miles away.
HOW TO SEE COMET C/2024 E1?
As of early February 2026, Comet C/2024 E1 is still visible in the evening sky at about magnitude +7. It appears about 22 degrees away from the Sun after passing closest to it.
Observers in the Southern Hemisphere, including southern parts of India, may be able to spot it low in the southwestern sky after sunset, using star charts to locate nearby reference stars. Under dark skies, the comet might show a green-coloured head and a faint blue tail.
Because the comet is leaving the inner Solar System and may not return, it offers a rare and short-lived viewing opportunity for skywatchers.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
