{"id":275773,"date":"2026-01-09T10:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/275773\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T10:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T10:45:09","slug":"theres-a-bright-comet-perfect-for-observing-through-a-smart-telescope-right-now-heres-how-to-see-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/275773\/","title":{"rendered":"There&#8217;s a bright comet perfect for observing through a smart telescope right now. Here&#8217;s how to see it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Comet 24P\/Schaumasse reaches perihelion on 8 January 2026, when it should reach an integrated magnitude of +9.9.<\/p>\n<p>At this time, the comet will be traversing the region to the south of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/advice\/arcturus\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arcturus<\/a>, when an early morning session with a small telescope or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/reviews\/smart-telescopes-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">smart telescope<\/a> is recommended if you want to grab a view.<\/p>\n<p>Arcturus reaches an altitude of around 55\u00b0 under dark-sky conditions mid-month. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>24P\/Schaumasse begins the month just to the north of mag. +5.7 29 Comae Berenices, remaining in Coma Berenices until midday on 2 January 2026, after which it slips into Virgo.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Get weekly stargazing advice by signing up to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/newsletter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">e-newsletter<\/a> and subscribing to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/bbcskyatnightmag\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">YouTube channel<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"850\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/comet-24P-Schaumasse.jpg\" alt=\"Comet 24P\/Schaumasse is at perihelion on 8 January when it\u2019s expected to reach mag. +9.9. Credit: Pete Lawrence\" class=\"wp-image-180235\"\/>Comet 24P\/Schaumasse is at perihelion on 8 January when it\u2019s expected to reach mag. +9.9. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/p>\n<p>It remains in Virgo, passing to the north of Vindemiatrix (Epsilon (\u03b5) Virginis) until 12 January, when it crosses into Bo\u00f6tes for the rest of the month.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Beginning its track at an estimated mag. +10.0, it brightens only slightly at perihelion to +9.9 before dropping back to mag. +10.5 by the end of the month.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout this period, it will be within range of a small telescope but too faint for binoculars.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2400\" height=\"1800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/24P_171119_large-6aa74ad.jpg\" alt=\"Comet 24P\/Schaumasse by Jos\u00e9 J. Chamb\u00f3 by Benali, Valencia, Spain, 19 November 2017. Equipment: GSO 8&quot; @ f\/3.8 reflector, Canon EOS-100D.\" class=\"wp-image-12683\"\/>Comet 24P\/Schaumasse by Jos\u00e9 J. Chamb\u00f3 by Benali, Valencia, Spain, 19 November 2017. Equipment: GSO 8&#8243; @ f\/3.8 reflector, Canon EOS-100D.<\/p>\n<p>Ignoring the weather, the biggest enemy of comets is the Moon; this will interfere on 1\u201311 and 30\u201331 January, so your best strategy will be to observe between 12 and 29 January.<\/p>\n<p>However, if the Moon is about, try to observe before it rises. After 31 January, 24P\/Schaumasse remains visible but continues to dim.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It then travels east, passing into Serpens Caput by late February. Its apparent motion against the background stars then slows noticeably.<\/p>\n<p>By late February 2026, 24P will dim to mag. +12.4 and be located 6\u00b0 west of Unukalhai (Alpha (\u03b1) Serpentis).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Share your comet 24P\/Schaumasse observations and images with us by emailing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/news\/mailto:contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comet 24P\/Schaumasse reaches perihelion on 8 January 2026, when it should reach an integrated magnitude of +9.9. At&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[18,19,17,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-275773","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-science"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115864739844684480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}