Two newly discovered comets are lighting up our night sky this month. They’re getting pretty close to Earth, which makes for an exciting time for sky watchers.
Comets are made of ice, gas, and rock. As they get closer to the sun, they heat up and begin to release gas and dust, creating those beautiful tails we see. This month, you can catch a glimpse of Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon and Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN. Comet Lemmon was spotted on January 3, while SWAN was identified on September 10 as it approached the sun.
If you’ve got binoculars or a telescope, now’s a great chance to see these comets! Both have long, oval-shaped orbits and will be close to Earth only for a short while. SWAN will be closest on October 20, coming within 24 million miles of us. Comet Lemmon will follow closely behind, passing within 55 million miles on October 21.
Quanzhi Ye, an associate scientist at the University of Maryland, notes that SWAN is best viewed right after dark, while Lemmon is currently visible just before sunrise but will soon be seen in the evenings.
Both comets have a short window each day for observation, as they appear near the sun from our viewpoint. Observers in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will get a chance to see them, although Lemmon is currently brighter than SWAN.
Currently, Lemmon is expected to brighten in the next few weeks. In contrast, SWAN may start to fade soon after passing Earth. After November, Lemmon will remain hidden behind the sun for a while.
These long-period comets have spent a lot of time in the Oort Cloud, a distant area of icy bodies at the edge of our solar system. Carrie Holt, an astronomer from Las Cumbres Observatory, explains that they were likely formed near massive planets like Jupiter and Saturn and were nudged into the Oort Cloud billions of years ago. When they head back towards the sun, it allows scientists to observe materials that haven’t changed much since the solar system began.
For those hoping to catch a glimpse of these comets, it helps to be in a dark area away from city lights. Apps for sky watching can guide you to their locations, and even a phone camera can work well with the right settings to capture them on a clear night.
If clouds obscure your view on the nights of their closest approaches, there’s no need to worry. The Virtual Telescope Project will livestream the event from Italy, allowing anyone to watch from home.
As we observe these celestial visitors, we not only enjoy their beauty but get a better understanding of our solar system’s history. It’s a perfect time for anyone interested in astronomy to step outside and look up!
