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Brightening Comet Pan‑STARRS Enters Pre‑Dawn View for Northern Skywatchers

A small angle from the Sun will soon hide it in twilight, making this week the best viewing window.

Overview

  • The comet, reported Wednesday at roughly magnitude +4.5 to +5, is now visible before sunrise as a faint glow that most people will spot with binoculars.
  • Best odds come 90–120 minutes before sunrise low in the east within the Great Square of Pegasus, where a clear horizon helps reveal the diffuse coma.
  • Perihelion arrives April 19 at about half an Earth–Sun distance, though the tight Sun–comet angle may keep any peak brightness lost in dawn glare.
  • The closest pass to Earth follows on April 26–27 at about 45.5 million miles, with viewing shifting to the Southern Hemisphere after perihelion near the western dusk sky.
  • Discovered by the Pan‑STARRS survey in September 2025, this long‑period visitor likely comes from the Oort Cloud and returns on a roughly 170,000‑year orbit, with its current magnitude near the threshold of naked‑eye visibility in very dark sites.