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Space
Space
Science
Anthony Wood

Watch comet C/2026 A1 plunge toward the sun online this week

A laptop displays an image of the sun's atmosphere with the sun in the background.

The sungrazing comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) has been causing a stir in recent months as it brightened during its headlong rush towards the sun, which culminates in a high stakes close approach known to astronomers as perihelion on April 4. Here's how you can watch its final do-or-die approach for yourself through the technological eye of a sungazing spacecraft.

C/2026 A1 (MAPS) is thought to belong to the Kreutz family of comets — enigmatic solar system wanderers that are thought to have a shared progenitor and whose orbits take them perilously close to our parent star.

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