Celebration of Space - April 10, 2026
A photo of Earth around the side of the Moon from the Artemis II lunar flyby on April 6, 2026. Credit: NASA
It’s been over a week since the Artemis II mission launched (Wednesday, April 1, 2026). On Monday, April 6, 2026, the Artemis II crew module (Orion Mult-Purpose Crew Vehicle or MPCV) executed a flyby maneuver around the Moon and embarked on the return journey to Earth. Reentry and splashdown procedures are scheduled for this evening (April 10, 2026), with reentry procedures starting at 7:37 pm ET, and splashdown scheduled for 8:07 pm ET, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego.
Unlike the Apollo missions, there has been a continuous live stream from the Artemis spacecraft as well as faster publishing of photos captured by the Artemis astronauts. You can watch the live stream from the Artemis crew vehicle. Images captured by the astronauts are published on the NASA Johnson Flickr account. Tonight’s re-entry and splashdown will be broadcast on NASA TV with commentary starting at 6:30 pm ET.
Questions about the viability of the Artemis mission plans seem to be a bit obscure at this point now that The Gateway project has been canceled, which was the big push for Artemis. Additionally, the mission to bring the first humans to Mars, which depends on The Gateway, also appears to be somewhat in disarray as well right now. Hopefully we didn’t just turn Artemis into another “we’re going to the Moon just to say we can” type mission. In any case, we can certainly enjoy the photos, videos, and stories about the mission.
Last Saturday, April 4, 2026, Comet C/2026 A1 MAPS passed within 532,544 miles distant from the Sun during its perihelion passage (closest point to the Sun). Passing so close to the Sun categorizes this comet as a Sungrazer comet. Sungrazers are exciting comets because they can become very bright in Earth’s sky if they survive their perihelion. The vast majority of Sungrazer comets do not survive their perihelion. Check out this timelapse video we put together from data by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) LASCO Coronagraphs showing the approach and disintegration of Comet A1 during its perihelion on April 4th.
Speaking of comets, there is another comet that has been raising a lot of buzz lately. Comet C/2025 R3 PanSTARRS (Comet R3), which is a long period comet (a comet with a greater than 200 year orbital period) from the Oort Cloud (furthest extent of the Solar System). In the case of this comet, the orbital period is about 170,000 years. The date of perihelion for Comet R3 is April 19, 2026, when the comet will pass within 4,634,976 miles of the Sun. Once perihelion is completed, the comet will swing past Earth on April 26, 2026, at a distance of 4,550,401 miles distant.
As of this week, Comet R3 has been reported as brightening to naked eye visibility, and the comet will continue to further brighten as it approaches the Sun. To catch a view of Comet R3 you will need to set your alarm quite early and get out to a dark location, free of light pollution, before 4:30 am. The comet is currently in the eastern sky, found in the constellation Pegasus and will move into Pisces on April 19th. Current observations list the comet as magnitude 5.3, which is barely visible to the naked eye. Though it will continue to brighten. Binoculars will make for a fantastic view, even if it isn’t so clear to the naked eye. Here’s a finder chart for the comet applicable to this week.
This coming week from Monday, April 13 – 19, 2026, Dark Sky Week is happening in Charlestown, Rhode Island – home to Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center, and we are ready to rock socks with the night sky. In celebration the Frosty Drew Observatory and Science Center will open every night, weather permitting, for the week. Our schedule will include stargazing with our large 24 inch telescope as well as our smaller telescopes. We will have presentations in the Sky Theatre on the effects of light pollution and how we can all do our part to solve the problem. Check in on our events calendar for additional information.
