{"id":515942,"date":"2026-04-06T14:15:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515942\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:15:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:15:12","slug":"your-last-glimpse-of-comet-wierzchos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/515942\/","title":{"rendered":"Your last glimpse of Comet Wierzcho\u015b?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\tBack to Article List\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\tNow fading quickly following a possible nuclear disruption, Comet Wierzcho\u015b is traveling through Taurus, near Orion\u2019s bow.\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tComet Wierzcho\u015b is fading on its way through Taurus, though it still offers a nice photo op with M1 late in the month. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full\u00a0Sky This Week<\/a>\u00a0column.\u00a0<\/p>\n

April 4: Europa disappears<\/a><\/p>\n

After rounding the Sun in January, Comet C\/2024 E1 (Wierzcho\u015b) is now headed back out to the depths of the solar system. This may be your last chance to see it, too, especially as it\u2019s fading fast following a possible disruption of the nucleus in early March. Observers with dark skies and big scopes can try to catch it, now sinking in the west after sunset in the far northwestern corner of Orion, near the Hunter\u2019s border with Taurus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You can use bright Aldebaran, the Bull\u2019s eye and alpha star, to guide you to the comet tonight. From Aldebaran, Wierzcho\u015b is just a 4.1\u00b0 slide to the southeast. It also lies just 1.2\u00b0 northwest of 4th-magnitude Omicron2 (\u03bf2) Orionis in the curve of Orion\u2019s bow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last reported around 13th magnitude and fading, Wierzcho\u015b will be a difficult target. However, there\u2019s another comet on the scene that is brighter than expected: C\/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS). Visible in the early-morning sky, we\u2019ll try for this one later in the week, so don\u2019t be discouraged if Wierzcho\u015b has fallen out of your range.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunrise:\u00a06:37 A.M.
Sunset:\u00a07:29 P.M.
Moonrise:\u00a011:36 P.M.
Moonset:\u00a08:01 A.M.
Moon Phase: Waning gibbous (85%)
*Times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset are given in local time from 40\u00b0 N 90\u00b0 W. The Moon\u2019s illumination is given at 10 P.M. local time from the same location.<\/p>\n

The Moon passes 0.6\u00b0 south of Antares at 4 P.M. EDT on April 6, with the two visible together in the early-morning sky prior to the passage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\tThe bright Moon is visible near the deep orange-red star Antares early this morning. Credit:\u00a0Stellarium\/USGS\/Celestia\/Clementine<\/p>\n

Look south around 5 A.M. local daylight time to find the waning Moon already embedded within Scorpius the Scorpion\u2019s front claws. It lies just to the lower right (west) of Antares, also cataloged as Alpha Scorpii and a lovely red giant star whose color you can admire through binoculars or a telescope. That color is what has gained it its name \u2014 it is often called the Rival of Mars because it looks to so many observers like the Red Planet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shining at magnitude 1.1, Antares is an M-class star that is much more massive than the Sun, weighing in at some 15 to 18 times more, according to the late stellar expert Jim Kaler. Although it\u2019s now much cooler than the Sun, Antares shines about 10,000 times brighter than our star, albeit from some 550 light-years away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Antares is also a known double star, with a magnitude 5.5 companion visible just 3\u201d away. Although this companion is a hot, blue-white star, it is one of a few stars that sometimes appears green to observers, thanks to the way human eyes see it in contrast with nearby ruddy Antares.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back to Article List Now fading quickly following a possible nuclear disruption, Comet Wierzcho\u015b is traveling through Taurus,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[59,44521,90,125288,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-515942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-observing","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-sky-tonight","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}