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Euclid telescope discovers its first new comet, now named C/2026 S1 (Euclid), says ESA

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The Euclid telescope of the European Space Agency (ESA) has discovered its first previously unknown comet, ESA announced on 19 October 2026. The object was spotted in images taken between 16 and 24 September and is now officially designated C/2026 S1 (Euclid).

Euclid telescope: A composite of eight Euclid VIS exposures showing the comet's glowing coma
A composite of eight Euclid VIS exposures showing the comet's glowing coma Photo: ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, M. Pöntinen et al. 2026 (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO).

How the Euclid telescope spotted the comet

Mikko Pöntinen, a PhD student at the University of Helsinki, made the discovery with the Solar System Objects Science Working Group of the Euclid Consortium, using moving-object detection software he developed. “I was excited to see my software flag a ‘streak’ smeared across several images – the result of a fast-moving object,” he said. By predicting its position he found it in five image sets, and a fuzzy cloud around it showed it was an active comet shedding dust and gas. It was caught in the Euclid Deep Field North across five fields of view over several days, in 16 exposures in total. With no match in catalogues of known objects, he reported it to the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which confirmed it as a comet on 8 October.

Key Facts

  • Name: C/2026 S1 (Euclid)
  • Images: 16-24 September 2026; 16 exposures
  • Confirmed by Minor Planet Center: 8 October 2026
  • Distance: about 1.3 billion km from Earth
  • Orbit: steeply tilted, takes thousands of years

“I was excited to see my software flag a 'streak' smeared across several images.”

— Mikko Pöntinen, University of Helsinki

Where C/2026 S1 is heading

The comet is about 1.3 billion kilometres from Earth, roughly the distance from the Sun to a point between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, ESA said. It does not travel in the plane of the planets but is currently “straight up” from the Sun’s point of view, arching over the Solar System on an orbit that takes thousands of years to complete. Euclid has seen comets before, but they were already known; this is the first new one it has found. Comets are icy, dusty leftovers from the birth of the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, which is why scientists study them for clues to the planets’ raw ingredients.

Comet Interceptor and the ESA team's next steps

Finding comets is hard for Euclid. It is built to take deep, steady images of distant galaxies, avoids the comet-rich band of sky along the planets’ plane to cut glare, and usually visits each patch of sky only once. “Very few comets are expected to be discovered by Euclid so it was a happy coincidence,” said Bruno Altieri, Euclid Archive Scientist. This comet is not a suitable target for ESA’s future Comet Interceptor mission, but the quick discovery and alert process is a real test of how the two mission teams will work together, he said. Euclid Project Scientist Valeria Pettorino said the team is happy to give the Solar System community a new comet to follow up.

Why It Matters: Spotting comets far from the Sun gives missions such as Comet Interceptor time to plan an encounter. Euclid has now shown it can help, even though galaxies are its main job.

Also on TrendDesh: Eagle Nebula pillars go sonified: NASA APOD turns Hubble and Chandra data into sound · NGC 1827: Hubble captures an edge-on spiral galaxy 37 million light-years away in Columba

Source: ESA, 19 Oct 2026 · IAU Minor Planet Center

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