Comet MAPS faces a make-or-break moment as it dives toward the sun on April 4 — could it shine in the daytime sky?

Image showing comet maps in the crosshairs and the sun behind.

We are now in the home stretch in the nearly four-month saga of Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS). This is the make-or-break week for this object as it heads for its long-awaited rendezvous with the sun this weekend.

The comet was discovered on Jan. 13, 2026, by a team of four amateur astronomers. "MAPS" is an acronym using the first letters of the surnames of the discoverers: Alain Maury, Georges Attard, Daniel Parrott, and Florian Signoret. They found the comet using a remotely operated 11-inch telescope at the AMACS1 observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. What makes this discovery special is that Comet MAPS belongs to a special class of comets known as Kreutz sungrazers.