Overview
- Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS), a Kreutz-group sungrazer, will skim the Sun on Saturday at roughly 101,000 miles above its surface, and astronomers say it could either fragment or endure.
- If the comet holds together, the most likely viewing window runs April 5–8 low in the west or southwest at dusk, with guides for New York and the UK stressing a clear horizon and help from binoculars.
- Solar observatories such as SOHO will capture the close pass, and recent JWST measurements suggest a small nucleus of about 0.4 kilometers, which raises the risk of breakup.
- Another target for April is Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS), which NASA says comes nearest on April 27 at about 44 million miles from Earth and should be best seen with binoculars in the predawn sky.
- April’s sky calendar also features Mercury’s best visibility on April 3 and the Lyrid meteor shower peaking April 21–22 with about 15–20 meteors per hour under dark skies.