Comet C/2026 A1 began to disintegrate 5 hours before its encounter with the Sun.

As of 12:00 Moscow time, the comet is approximately 5 million kilometers from the Sun. Judging by images from the CCOR-1 space-based coronagraph (the only one transmitting relevant data in recent hours), the comet's nucleus is no longer able to resist the thermal currents and the increasing drag of the solar atmosphere and has begun to disintegrate. Images from the last hour clearly show the separation of the nucleus's head from its tail.

Within an hour, the comet will no longer be visible on CCOR-1 (it will pass behind the artificial moon—the dark, round plate of the coronagraph that obscures the Sun). After this, the only observation channel will be the LASCO/C2 telescope—the red channel at this link or on our website.

The LASCO satellite has just "turned on" (it had previously been out of range for about 10  hours). Images of the comet in the red channel have begun to arrive. At approximately 4:30 PM Moscow time, the comet, if it survives, will be invisible here too, but starting around 5:00 PM (that is, half an hour before its encounter with the Sun), it may become visible in conventional images from space telescopes—it will be that close to the Sun.

If the comet retains the remnants of its coma and tail by then, there will be a chance to witness a phenomenal spectacle. The comet will pass directly across the solar disk, and if it survives this portion, it will briefly emerge on the other side. Afterward, it will pass behind the Sun. If it survives this portion, it will emerge from behind the Sun around 6:00 PM Moscow time.

The probability of surviving until this moment of miraculous rescue is currently estimated at a fraction of a percent.