Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens (April 12, 2026)
April 12, 2026 6:10am
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2026-04-12 is titled "Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens." The release is published as a image and pairs imagery with an offic...
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2026-04-12 is titled "Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens." The release is published as a image and pairs imagery with an official science explainer from NASA. The post highlights a specific observable scene and provides technical context for why the view matters.
5-Second Takeaway
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2026-04-12 is titled "Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens." The release is published as a image and pairs imagery with an official science explainer from NASA.
Why This Matters
The post highlights a specific observable scene and provides technical context for why the view matters.
What Changed
- NASA published this Astronomy Picture of the Day on 2026-04-12.
- The item title is Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens and the media type is image.
- The image and caption describe observable features highlighted in this release.
- NASA's accompanying explanation provides observation context and interpretation notes.
- Caption excerpt: Comet R3 is brightening rapidly -- will it survive? C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has been slowly brightening and extending an ion tail since its discovery last year. This shedding mountain of dirty ice puts on its best sky show this month, though, because it passes its closest to both the Sun (April 19) and the Earth (April 25). The featured image, showing R3 already sporting a tail extending over 10 degrees, was taken two nights ago from Sion, Switzerland with the big mountain Bietschhorn on the left. Comet R3 will be visible during mid-April before sunrise. Although the future brightness of any comet is hard to predict, the brightness of R3 makes it already a good camera comet and it may become visible to the unaided eye in the next week. Comet R3's physical future is also unknown because, like Comet A1 (MAPS) earlier this month, it may disintegrate when it passes its closest to the Sun.
- Full mission and image details are available in the official APOD entry.
- NASA APOD page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2604/R3Panstarrs_Rodrigues_960.jpg
- NASA open API portal: https://api.nasa.gov/
Key Facts
- NASA published this Astronomy Picture of the Day on 2026-04-12.
- The item title is Comet R3 (PanSTARRS) Brightens and the media type is image.
- The image and caption describe observable features highlighted in this release.
- NASA's accompanying explanation provides observation context and interpretation notes.
Key Numbers
- NASA published this Astronomy Picture of the Day on 2026-04-12.
- Caption excerpt: Comet R3 is brightening rapidly -- will it survive? C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) has been slowly brightening and extending an ion tail since its discovery last year. This shedding mountain of dirty ice puts on its best sky show this month, though, because it passes its closest to both the Sun (April 19) and the Earth (April 25). The featured image, showing R3 already sporting a tail extending over 10 degrees, was taken two nights ago from Sion, Switzerland with the big mountain Bietschhorn on the left. Comet R3 will be visible during mid-April before sunrise. Although the future brightness of any comet is hard to predict, the brightness of R3 makes it already a good camera comet and it may become visible to the unaided eye in the next week. Comet R3's physical future is also unknown because, like Comet A1 (MAPS) earlier this month, it may disintegrate when it passes its closest to the Sun.
- NASA APOD page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2604/R3Panstarrs_Rodrigues_960.jpg