Euclid Telescope discovers first unknown comet

The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope identified its first unknown comet. The images were captured between September 16 and 24, 2026. The discovery is notable because Euclid's mission is focused on capturing deep and stable images of distant galaxies, not on tracking fast-moving solar system objects like comets ^1,2.

Detection and validation

The detection was performed by Mikko Pöntinen, from the University of Helsinki, with the help of software developed by him to monitor small solar system objects in Euclid's images. The software identified a trail in several images, indicative of a fast-moving object. After predicting its position, Pöntinen was able to locate the object in five sets of images. The inspection revealed a diffuse cloud around the object, characteristic of an active comet that releases dust and gas ^1,2.

The confirmation of the new comet was made by the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union, which identified it as C/2026 S1 (Euclid). The comet is approximately 1.3 billion kilometers from Earth, a distance equivalent to the point between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. However, it is not in the same horizontal plane as the planets, but rather in a trajectory that causes it to arch over the solar system, completing its orbit in thousands of years ^1,2.