Recently discovered Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) will make its closest approach to the sun and Earth in late April and could potentially be visible to the naked eye. It may end up being the brightest comet of the year.
We may be less than two weeks into 2026, but a new comet is already leading the charge to become the "Great Comet" of the year. The highly anticipated ice ball, which could potentially be seen with the naked eye, will reach its closest point to us less than four months from now.

Scientists discovered the incoming comet, dubbed C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS), on Sept. 8, 2025, in images captured by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) — a pair of 5.9-foot (1.8 meters) reflector telescopes located on the summit of Hawaii's Haleakalā volcano. It is currently around 216 million miles (348 million kilometers) from Earth, around halfway between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, according to TheSkyLive.com.

C/2025 R3 is a long-period comet, meaning it likely takes more than 1,000 years to orbit the sun, and probably originates from the Oort cloud — a giant reservoir of comets and other icy objects near the edge of the solar system. Astronomers have yet to narrow down the comet's orbital pathway, so they do not know how long the ice ball takes to circle our home star. But similar discoveries in recent years have revealed comets that have not passed by Earth for tens of thousands of years.

C/2025 R3 is currently speeding toward the sun and will reach perihelion — its closest point to our home star — on April 20. It will come within 47.4 million miles (76.3 million km) of the sun, which is somewhere between the orbits of Mercury and Venus.

Just one week later, on April 27, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth, coming within 44 million miles (70.8 million km) of our planet, which is more than 180 times farther from us than the moon is.

Astronomers don't yet know how brightly the comet will shine during its solar flyby, Live Science's sister site Space.com recently reported. Some researchers have predicted that it will reach an apparent magnitude of 8, meaning it would be visible only via a decent telescope or pair of stargazing binoculars. But others estimate that it could reach magnitude 2.5, which would make it clearly visible to the naked eye. (Apparent magnitude is measured on a reverse logarithmic scale, meaning a lower number equates to a greater brightness.)

A fireball was seen streaking across the sky in Southern California on Saturday night!

ABC7 director Mike Gilbert captured video of the fireball from our studios in Glendale.
The American Meteor Society confirmed the sighting was definitely a fireball, and not a rocket launch or satellite entry.

A fireball is a meteor brighter than any star or planet in the sky. While normal meteors or "shooting stars" totally disintegrate while still high in the atmosphere, fireballs can produce fragments on the ground called meteorites, though it is extremely rare.

The American Meteor Society said it received over 30 reports after the sighting, but noted it actually receives about 100 reports of fireballs each day from all over the world.

As common as they are, experts say most people only see a few of them in their lifetime.

We received 53 reports about a fireball seen over IN, KY, MI, OH and WI on Sunday, January 11th 2026 around 02:44 UT.

For this event, we received 4 videos and 3 photos.

We received 7 reports about a fireball seen over Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Occitanie, Piemonte and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur on Wednesday, January 7th 2026 around 02:12 UT.

For this event, we received one video.

A rare fireball meteor lit up the night sky early Monday morning, thrilling astronomy enthusiasts. The shooting star was caught on camera in Pingtung, Kaohsiung and Changhua. Experts say the fireball was part of the annual Quadrantid meteor shower. The meteor itself was very bright, and its smoke trail lingered in the sky for more than 3 minutes. Let's hear more.

Shih Shih-chih
Pingtung Stargazing Ambassador

The Quadrantids peak from Dec. 28 to Jan. 12 this year, and especially in the early morning of Jan. 4. But even a day later on Jan. 5, we were able to spot a fireball meteor overhead going south at 5:21 in the morning.

We received 11 reports about a fireball seen over England, Northern Ireland and Scotland on Friday, January 2nd 2026 around 23:20 UT.

For this event, we received one video and one photo.

We received 98 reports about a fireball seen over AR, IA, IL, IN, KY, MO, MS and TN on Friday, January 2nd 2026 around 00:17 UT.

For this event, we received 3 videos and one photo.

We received 31 reports about a fireball seen over AL, GA, MS, NC, SC and TN on Thursday, January 1st 2026 around 04:48 UT.

For this event, we received 2 videos and one photo.

We received 32 reports about a fireball seen over British Columbia, ID, OR and WA on Thursday, January 1st 2026 around 02:16 UT.

For this event, we received one video.

We received 30 reports about a fireball seen over AR, IL, IN, KS, MO and TN on Wednesday, December 31st 2025 around 11:21 UT.

For this event, we received one video.