Home=Current Comets: C/2024 E1
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On Mar. 3, 2024, Kacper Wierzchos discovered a comet with the 1.5m reflector on Mt. Lemmon. The comet, positioned in the constellation Draco, showed a strongly condensed, 4" coma of total magnitude 20.0-20.5 and a 6" tail in p.a. 320°. At a distance of 8 AU at discovery comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) will not pass perihelion at a solar distance of 0.56 AU until Jan. 21, 2026, then predicted to peak around magnitude 7 (CBET 5364). However, at this time the comet will be on the opposite side of the Sun relative to Earth, thus being positioned close to the Sun, making observations very difficult. It should be brighter than 16 mag between June 2025 and July 2026. During this period it will move through the constellations Draco, Hercules, Corona Borealis, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Sagittarius (perihelion), Microscopium, Grus, Phoenix, Sculptor, Cetus, Eridanus, Taurus and Gemini. From Central European locations it can be seen in the evening sky until the end of November 2025 (then only 11 mag) and then again between the end of February (about 8 mag) and mid-May 2026 (about 13 mag).
Based on 137 observations by 33 observers (until the beginning of November 2025) the comet has shown a very steady brightness development so far, which can be represented very well with the parameters
m0 = 8.6 mag / n = 3.5.If the comet continues to develop in this manner it will peak at magnitude 7.0 around Jan. 26, 2026. However, during those days it will only be observable from the southern hemisphere, quite low above the horizon. Between the beginning of the year and the start of November 2025 the brightness increased from 18.5 mag to 12.0 mag.
Total Brightness and Coma Diameter
The diameter of the rather low-density (DC 3) coma increased only slightly to 0.5' (80,000 km) by the beginning of August 2025, but reached 2' (200,000 km) at the beginning of November. A tail has been detected on CCD images since March 2025. At the beginning of November, it reached a length of 3' (800,000 km). Until April 2025, the tail was oriented to the NW, but then slowly rotated via the west, south, and east to the NNE, where it has remained since.Andreas Kammerer
