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Early warning for newly discovered comets and unconfirmed objects.

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C/2026 A1

C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

CometClass Ecatalogued
Unknown

Not visible to typical instruments. Current estimate mag 19.5. Historic peak was mag -7.2. Visual and most CCD amateur setups will not see it. Space telescopes or large ground telescopes are the remaining path.

Active comet in COBS

JSONCSV

Right ascension

—

J2000

Declination

—

J2000

Estimated magnitude

19.5

Professional survey · COBS consensus

Confidence

33

Class E · priority 60

Observations

488

Arc unknown

Last observation

147d ago

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:48:00 GMT · COBS consensus

Perihelion

2026-04-04

0.006 au

Peak window

2026-04-01 → 2026-04-07

COBS peak mag -7.2 on 2026-04-04 · perihelion 2026-04-04. Window is those dates ±3 days — not a light-curve fit.

Historic peak

-7.2

COBS / analyzed peak 2026-04-04

Catalog ingest

15m ago

Venator last wrote this row 2026-09-16 22:00:04 UTC

Light curve

Brightness over time (V mag)

Gold = reported observations. Steel dashed family = ensemble (nominal / outburst / fade / disruption).

Tail length

Converted to degrees from COBS (d / arcmin / arcsec). Empty until analysis has pulled the archive.

Ensemble is a first-pass H0/n photometric model plus observed samples — not a trained ML forecast yet. The background analyzer walks the catalog one object at a time so COBS is not flooded. Disruption track rises after perihelion to stand in for solar-wind stripping.

Orbital elements

q

0.006 au

e

1.0000

i

144.00°

Ω

7.76°

ω

86.20°

a

—

MOID

—

H

—

H0 / n

—

NEO score

—

PHA score

—

RMS

—

Elongation

—

Reporting sources

  • COBS comet list

    ok

    Comet Observation Database magnitudes and perihelion data for the full COBS list (active and inactive).

Name history

  • C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

    Informal: MAPS

    C/2026 A1 · 2026-09-13 22:21:23 UTC → current

Discoverers

  • MAPS

    Discoverer · parsed-name · 2026-09-13 22:21:23 UTC → current

Contributors

Pips are observation weight on this object (log of report count). Hover for catalog-wide weight.