January 24, 2026
Sergey Yazyev, chief researcher at the Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained his expectations regarding comet C/2026 A1 and whether it poses a danger to planet Earth.
In an interview with the Russian TASS agency, he said: “The newly discovered comet C/2026 A1 will pass far from the Earth and will not collide with it. This comet is currently located 200 million kilometers from our planet, and estimates indicate that it will continue its movement in space and burn up in the sun on the fourth of next April.”
He added: “Some believe that this comet is part of the great comet that was discovered in 1106, and he mentioned manuscripts by authors from the United Kingdom, China, and Japan. We cannot confirm this matter, as a thousand years ago no one was able to determine the standards of the comet’s movement and orbit to compare them to today’s standards.”
The Institute of Solar and Terrestrial Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences announced in a statement that astronomers were able to observe a new comet on the thirteenth of this January, within the “MAPS” monitoring program, and the International Astronomical Union named it “C/2026 A1.” According to astronomers, the comet is moving in the direction of the sun, and will likely reach and collide with it at the beginning of April of this year.
