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Credit & Copyright: Josö Rodrigues
Explanation:
Comet R3 is brightening rapidly -- will it survive?
C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has been slowly brightening and
extending an
ion tail since its discovery last year.
This shedding mountain
of dirty ice puts on its best sky show this month,
though, because it passes its closest to both the
Sun (April 19) and the
Earth (April 25).
The
featured image, showing R3 already sporting a
tail extending over 10 degrees,
was taken two nights ago from
Sion,
Switzerland
with the big mountain
Bietschhorn on the left.
Comet R3
will be visible during mid-April before sunrise.
Although the future brightness of any comet is hard to predict,
the brightness of
R3 makes it already a good
camera comet and it may become visible to the
unaided eye in the next week.
Comet R3's physical future is also
unknown because, like
Comet A1 (MAPS) earlier this month, it may
disintegrate when it passes its closest to the Sun.
Or it may live to
leave the Solar System.
Growing Gallery:
Comet R3 in 2026
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day