Comet C/2026 S1 (Euclid) streaks across the sky

The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope has discovered its first previously unknown comet: C/2026 S1 (Euclid).

In this image sequence it moves against background stars and galaxies in three of Euclid’s VIS camera exposures captured during the Euclid Deep Field North survey.

The images were taken at 00:41:07, 00:58:53 and 01:16:39 UTC on 17 September 2026. Each image is a 560.52 second exposure, so the comet appears like a streak because it moves across the sky during the long exposure. A fuzzy atmosphere, known as a ‘coma’ in cometary terms, is seen around the object.

Read more

Download annotated version here

[Image description: A black-and-white animation of deep space shows a faint comet drifting slowly across the frame against a background of stars. Near the centre, the comet appears as a bright, elongated streak surrounded by a diffuse cloud of dust. As the animation plays, the comet moves while the distant stars remain fixed, revealing its motion.]