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Double Space Comets Lemmon, Swan to Fly Near Earth
Comet Lemmon and Comet SWAN are at their closest to Earth, shining at magnitudes +4.9 and +5.8, visible with binoculars across the Northern Hemisphere this week.
- On Monday, Oct. 20, Comet Lemmon and Comet SWAN reached peak brightness near their minimum distances from Earth, visible across the Northern Hemisphere.
- Discovered earlier this year, Lemmon was found in January by the Mount Lemmon observatory and follows an elongated elliptical orbit, with close approaches around 1,300 years ago and in around 1,100 years.
- About 90 minutes after sunset, look for the comets shining at magnitude +4.9 and +5.8, using binoculars and apps like Sky Guide, Stellarium and SkySafari.
- By the weekend, increasing moonlight will make the comets tougher to see, but live-streams and long camera exposures offer amateur astronomers better viewing opportunities.
- Comet SWAN will be most visible in predawn skies as it moves away from the Sun and orbits roughly every 20,000 years, while good viewing for Lemmon continues through Nov 2 as it brightens near the Sun.
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One of the rarest astronomical phenomena in modern history will occur between 18 and 21 October 2025. It is comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN), an object that travels through space and whose orbit brings it near the Earth only once every 20,000 years.This comet was identified by amateur astronomer Vladimir Bezugly through the SWAN instrument, part of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Its discovery provoked great interest among scientists and am…
Comets Lemmon and Swan give Danes a unique chance to see two comets at once
·Copenhagen, Denmark
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution50% Left
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
50% Left
L 50%
C 25%
R 25%
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