Draft:C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)

C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)  is a non-periodic and weakly hyperbolic comet with an eccentricity of 1.00027445 (average of the MPC's and COBS' values), meaning it may or may not be ejected from the Solar System. It has a perihelion of 0.565 AU (84.52 million km; 52.52 million mi) in late January 2026, and has the chance to become faintly visible to the naked eye (magnitude +5.1) a few days after its perihelion passage. It will be located near Theta1 Microscopii during the start of its estimated brightest period, ending it near Xi Gruis.

Discovery
C/2024 E1 was discovered by K. W. Wierzchos, in images taken on March 3, 2024, by the Mount Lemmon Survey.

Observation
This comet will be relatively well-placed for the entire world, but the Southern Hemisphere has an observing advantage, as all of the time when it could possibly be visible to the naked eye, is in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere. It is possible that the Moon will interfere with observing the comet, as it will be heading towards a full moon while the comet is at its brightest. It was imaged at magnitude 19.9 in mid-March, 2024.