Space
Euclid finds its first new comet
A space telescope built to photograph distant galaxies has spotted a comet that nobody had seen before.
Euclid, a European space telescope, has discovered a comet that nobody had seen before. The European Space Agency, or ESA, shared the news on October 19, 2026. Euclid has seen comets before, but all of them were already known.
This discovery is unusual, because Euclid was not designed to search for comets. Its main job is to photograph distant galaxies so that scientists can study dark matter and dark energy. The telescope also avoids the band of sky where most comets and asteroids travel, because dust there causes glare.
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The curved path that a planet, moon or comet follows as it moves around another object in space.
Its orbit is so long that one trip around the Sun takes thousands of years.