C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS): Closest Approach to The Sun Viewed from Hungary

C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS): Closest Approach to The Sun Viewed from Hungary

Astrophotographer Ujvárosi Beáta: "After 5 overcast nights, the sky finally cleared on the 18th, and I knew this was my last chance at properly imaging the comet, just one day before its perihelion. I waited on a rooftop for the comet to rise, and as soon as it cleared the treetops (at around 3 deg.) I started the sequence using a 200 mm lens for a big field of view (FOV). The sky quickly brightened during the session, adding a nice colour gradient to the images. I decided to embrace this gradient and combined the usual heavily processed version with a simple average stack: this method preserves both the tail details and the background colours. The ion tail stretches more than 10 deg. in the image and runs out of the FOV, while a short dust tail can also be detected."

Discovered by the Pan-STARRS survey in September 2025, the comet dived toward its closest approach to the Sun (0.50 AU) on April 19, 2026, bringing it well inside the orbit of Venus.

The comet's brightness will receive a further boost between April 24-25 when it passes almost directly between Earth and the Sun. The process is called "forward scattering." Sunlight passing through the comet's dusty atmosphere could be amplified 100-fold or more.

We will not be able to see the April 24 surge from Earth. The comet will be too close to the Sun. However, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) will have a great view of what could briefly become a truly magnificent object.

Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, both Croatia and Slovenia to the southwest, and Austria to the west.

Image Credit: Ujvárosi Beáta
Location: Vácrátót, Hungary

Image Details: 20x30 sec exposures taken with a Sony A7s astro mod+Canon 200mm f2.8 lens, stacked in Siril, post processed in GIMP and LR
Date: April 18, 2026

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Comets #CometC2025R3Panstarrs #SolarSystem #Astrophotography #UjvárosiBeáta #Astrophotographers #Vácrátót #Hungary #CentralEurope #STEM #Education