A comet with a long tail has been discovered near the sun, and some astronomers have predicted it will be visible to the naked eye in mid-October. That may mean that two bright comets can be seen in the night sky at the same time at the peak of the meteor shower.
The COMET C/2025 R2 (Swan), or for short, was discovered on September 12 by NASA’s orbital solar dynamics observatory. The previously unknown comet was discovered in an image of Swan by Ukrainian amateur astronomer Vladimir Bezugly, according to today’s Universe, and was originally called the Swan25b. Three days later, the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center classified the object as a comet and renamed it C/2025 R2 (SWAN).
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The Swan R2 is still very close to the Sun – passing near Mars just after dusk and is most commonly seen from the southern hemisphere, but it is scheduled to change on October 21st, when Swan R2 changes to an astronomical unit (AU) only 0.27 from Earth. It is about a quarter of the distance from the Earth to the Sun.
At the time, comets could be as bright as magnitude 4, and even in the Northern Hemisphere could be visible to the naked eye of a dark sky. Earth may even pass debris from comets around October 4th-6th. Even if it doesn’t brighten enough to be seen with auxiliary eyes, comets should be easily visible through starry binoculars or a good backyard telescope.
This comet became as clear as another comet was brightening. Discovered by the Mount Lemon, Arizona survey in January, the Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is the closest to Earth on October 21st. This is the same day as the closest approach to Swan R2. The comet lemon is about 0.60 Au from Earth and will be visible in the morning and evening. According to Space.com, Lemmon can be as bright as magnitude 4. This allows you to see it with the naked eye in the dark sky.
The best night to see both comets – if they survive an increasingly tighter approach to the sun, it is not guaranteed and brightens as predicted – it will be October 20-23rd when they are the closest to Earth. October 21st is the date of the new moon, and the night sky is released under the moonlight. October 20th and 21st are also the peak of the Orionide meteor shower, where approximately 20 “shooting stars” are expected per hour. You don’t want to miss out on the outlook of two bright comets and meteors in the dark sky.
The last bright comet visible to the naked eye was c/2020 F3 (Neowise) in the summer of 2020, but in October 2024, CO/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) became visible through binoculars during a close approach to Earth.
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