Right now, if you point a high-powered telescope toward the constellation of Sagittarius, you aren't just looking at stars. You’re looking at Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), an icy mountain of rock and frozen gas that is currently screaming toward its closest encounter with the Sun.
It's January 2026.
Space isn't empty; it's cluttered with these "dirty snowballs," and Wierzchos is the one everyone’s tracking this week. While the world was busy watching the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS fade into the blackness of the outer solar system earlier this month, Wierzchos has been quietly stealing the spotlight.
It reaches perihelion—its literal "hot zone" near the Sun—on January 20, 2026.
The Current State of Comet Wierzchos
Honestly, comets are fickle. You’ve probably heard people call them "cats" because they have tails and do whatever they want. Right now, Wierzchos is sitting at an estimated magnitude of about 8.4, though some optimistic reports from the Southern Hemisphere suggest it might be pushing closer to 7.5.
That means it’s technically too faint for your naked eye, but if you’ve got a decent pair of binoculars and a dark sky, it’s a fuzzy, ghostly smudge.
What’s actually happening on the surface? Chaos.
As the comet gets closer to the Sun, the solar heat isn't just "warming" it; it’s causing the ices—mostly water, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide—to skip the liquid phase and turn straight into gas. This is sublimation. It creates a massive, glowing cloud called a coma that can be hundreds of thousands of miles wide, even though the actual rock in the middle (the nucleus) is probably only a few kilometers across.
Why the Southern Hemisphere Wins This Month
If you’re in New York or London, I’ve got bad news. You’re basically out of luck until February.
Currently, the comet is very low on the southwestern horizon just after sunset, making it a prime target for observers in Australia, South Africa, and Chile. Astronomers at the Sutherland Observatory have been getting some of the best data, noting that the comet's tail is starting to show that classic "fan" shape.
What’s On the Surface?
We can't land on it (yet), but we know what's there thanks to spectroscopy.
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Scientists are seeing a lot of diatomic carbon ($C_2$). When sunlight hits these molecules in the vacuum of space, they glow with a distinct green hue. If you see a photo of a "green comet" on your feed today, that’s not photoshop or aliens—it’s just carbon molecules being ripped apart by UV radiation.
- The Nucleus: A jagged, dark chunk of ice and dust. It’s darker than charcoal.
- The Jets: Pressure builds up under the "crust" of the comet. Eventually, it pops. Geysers of gas and dust shoot out into space at hundreds of miles per hour.
- The Dust Tail: This is the part that reflects sunlight. It’s made of tiny grains, some no bigger than smoke particles.
The Interstellar "Goodbye" to 3I/ATLAS
While Wierzchos is the "new" thing, we have to talk about 3I/ATLAS.
This was the third interstellar object ever discovered, following in the footsteps of 'Oumuamua and Borisov. It's currently moving away from us at over 130,000 miles per hour.
Right now, as of mid-January 2026, 3I/ATLAS is located in the constellation of Cancer. It’s fading fast—magnitude 12 to 14—and only the big "pro" telescopes like the Gemini North on Maunakea are still getting clear shots.
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Avi Loeb and other researchers have been obsessing over its "anti-tail." This is a weird optical illusion where a spike of dust seems to point toward the Sun instead of away from it. It’s basically just a trail of larger dust particles left behind in the comet's orbital plane, but it looks like a glowing needle in deep-space photography.
What to Watch For Next
Comets are notorious for breaking apart.
Remember C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)? It fragmented into three pieces back in November. When a comet's internal pressure gets too high, or the Sun's gravity tugs too hard, the whole thing can disintegrate into a cloud of glitter.
Wierzchos seems stable for now.
If it survives its pass around the Sun on January 20th, it will head toward its closest approach to Earth on February 17, 2026. That’s when Northern Hemisphere observers finally get their turn. By then, it might have faded slightly to magnitude 9, but it will be higher in the sky and easier to spot away from the horizon's "muck."
Practical Steps for Stargazers
If you want to actually see what's on these comets through your own glass, you need a plan.
- Check the weather. Obviously. A single cloud ruins the night.
- Download a tracker. Apps like Sky Tonight or websites like TheSkyLive give you real-time coordinates (Right Ascension and Declination).
- Get away from the city. Light pollution is the "comet killer." You need a Bortle 4 zone or better to see the tail.
- Use "Averted Vision." Don't look directly at the comet. Look slightly to the side of it. Your peripheral vision is more sensitive to low light and will help the fuzzy coma "pop" out of the blackness.
The most exciting thing about comets is the "new" ones. Just this week, on January 13, 2026, a potential new Kreutz family sungrazer was spotted (temporarily called 6AC4721). If confirmed, this could be a "Great Comet" that becomes visible in broad daylight by April.
For now, keep your eyes on Wierzchos. It's a reminder that our solar system is a lot more crowded and active than it looks from your backyard.
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To stay updated on the comet's brightness as it rounds the Sun, monitor the COBS (Comet OBServation database) for daily magnitude reports from observers worldwide. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, start scouting your southwestern horizon now so you're ready for its reappearance in mid-February.