© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

Comet 24P/Schaumasse reaches peak brightness

Dominic Ford, Editor
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Comet 24P/Schaumasse is forecast to reach the brightest point in its 2026 apparition on 7 January. At that time, it will lie at a distance of 1.19 AU from the Sun, and at a distance of 0.59 AU from the Earth.

From Ashburn on 7 January it will be visible in the morning sky, becoming accessible around 01:27, when it reaches an altitude of 21° above your eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 06:17, 64° above your southern horizon. It will be lost to dawn twilight around 06:18, 64° above your southern horizon.

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The events that comprise the 2025–2026 apparition of 24P/Schaumasse are as follows:

Date Event
05 Jan 2026Comet 24P/Schaumasse passes perigee
07 Jan 2026Comet 24P/Schaumasse reaches peak brightness
09 Jan 2026Comet 24P/Schaumasse passes perihelion

The table below lists the times when 24P/Schaumasse will be visible from Ashburn day-by-day through its apparition:

Date Constellation Comet visibility
17 Dec 2025LeoVisible from 01:06 until 06:11
Highest at 06:07, 68° above S horizon
19 Dec 2025LeoVisible from 01:09 until 06:12
Highest at 06:09, 68° above S horizon
21 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:12 until 06:13
Highest at 06:11, 67° above S horizon
23 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:15 until 06:14
Highest at 06:13, 67° above S horizon
25 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:18 until 06:15
Highest at 06:14, 67° above S horizon
27 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:21 until 06:16
Highest at 06:16, 66° above S horizon
29 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:23 until 06:17
Highest at 06:17, 66° above S horizon
31 Dec 2025Coma BerenicesVisible from 01:26 until 06:17
Highest at 06:17, 65° above S horizon
02 Jan 2026VirgoVisible from 01:28 until 06:17
Highest at 06:17, 65° above S horizon
04 Jan 2026VirgoVisible from 01:30 until 06:18
Highest at 06:18, 65° above S horizon
06 Jan 2026VirgoVisible from 01:31 until 06:18
Highest at 06:18, 64° above S horizon
08 Jan 2026VirgoVisible from 01:33 until 06:18
Highest at 06:18, 64° above S horizon
10 Jan 2026VirgoVisible from 01:34 until 06:18
Highest at 06:18, 63° above S horizon
12 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:35 until 06:18
Highest at 06:18, 63° above S horizon
14 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:36 until 06:17
Highest at 06:17, 63° above S horizon
16 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:36 until 06:17
Highest at 06:17, 62° above S horizon
18 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:36 until 06:16
Highest at 06:16, 62° above S horizon
20 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:36 until 06:15
Highest at 06:15, 62° above S horizon
22 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:35 until 06:15
Highest at 06:15, 61° above S horizon
24 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:35 until 06:14
Highest at 06:13, 61° above S horizon
26 Jan 2026BootesVisible from 01:34 until 06:12
Highest at 06:11, 61° above S horizon

A more detailed table of 24P/Schaumasse's position on each night is available here. A diagram of the orbit of 24P/Schaumasse is available here.

Finder chart

The chart below shows the path of 24P/Schaumasse over the course of its apparition, as calculated from the orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC). It is available for download, either on dark background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats, or on a light background, in PNG, PDF or SVG formats. It was produced using StarCharter.

Comet brightnesses

Comets are intrinsically highly unpredictable objects, since their brightness depends on the scattering of sunlight from dust particles in the comet's coma and tail. This dust is continually streaming away from the comet's nucleus, and its density at any particular time is governed by the rate of sublimation of the ice in the comet's nucleus, as it is heated by the Sun's rays. It also depends on the amount of dust that is mixed in with that ice. This is very difficult to predict in advance, and can be highly variable even between successive apparitions of the same comet.

In consequence, while the future positions of comets are usually known with a high degree of confidence, their future brightnesses are not. For most comets, we do not publish any magnitude estimates at all. For the few comets where we do make estimates, we generally prefer the BAA's magnitude parameters to those published by the Minor Planet Center, since they are typically updated more often.

Based on the magnitude parameters published for this comet by the BAA Comet Section, we estimate that it may be around mag 8 on 7 January 2026. This estimate is based on observations that the BAA has received from amateur astronomers, assuming that its current level of activity will remain constant.

This comet is not expected to be visible to the naked eye, but might be visible through bird-watching binoculars.

The comet's position on 7 January 2026 will be:

Object Right Ascension Declination Constellation Magnitude
Comet 24P/Schaumasse 13h15m20s 13°24'N Virgo 8.4

The coordinates are given in J2000.0.

The sky on 7 Jan 2026

The sky on 7 January 2026
Sunrise
07:26
Sunset
17:02
Twilight ends
18:38
Twilight begins
05:51

18-day old moon
Waning Gibbous

73%

18 days old

Planets
Rise Culm. Set
Mercury 07:01 11:38 16:16
Venus 07:33 12:16 16:58
Moon 20:55 03:42 10:17
Mars 07:35 12:17 16:59
Jupiter 17:09 00:29 07:50
Saturn 10:58 16:49 22:41
All times shown in EST.

Source

This event was automatically generated on the basis of orbital elements published by the Minor Planet Center (MPC) , and is updated whenever new elements become available. It was last updated on 16 Sep 2024.

Image credit

© Andy Roberts 1997. Pictured comet is C/1995 O1 Hale-Bopp.

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