The previous month has seen Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) brightening quickly forward of its shut method to the solar, resulting in rising pleasure that it may shine brightly sufficient to be seen by the bare eye in mid-late October.
Photo voltaic system comets are likely to turn out to be more and more lively and vivid within the weeks and months main as much as perihelion — their closest method to the solar in a given orbit — and Comet Lemmon isn’t any exception. Warmth and vitality from the solar vaporizes the comet’s icy deposits, remodeling them right into a gaseous central coma and tail that drags dusty particles together with it, which mirror daylight and create the dramatic spectacles we see by telescopes or within the night time sky.
Learn on to find the place and when to search for Comet Lemmon earlier than, throughout and after its flyby of Earth on Oct. 21.
Magnitude
Magnitude is the size used to measure the obvious brightness of objects within the night time sky. The decrease the quantity, the brighter the thing! For context, the brightest stars are round Magazine +1, whereas a full moon is -13 and the solar is -27.
Comet Lemmon has brightened from magnitude +21.5 upon its discovery in January to roughly +5.7, based on the Comet Statement Database (COBS) maintained by the Crni Vrh Observatory in Slovenia. That technically locations it above the +6 detection restrict of the human eye in good darkish sky circumstances, although the sunshine solid by the waning gibbous moon will add an additional barrier to visibility within the week forward.
If Comet Lemmon continues its present brightening development, it may turn out to be a gorgeous, hazy bare eye goal within the coming weeks, with its mild changing into simpler to outline by a pair of binoculars, or a yard telescope.
Very similar to the planets and the moon, Comet Lemmon is continually shifting relative to the celebrities past. Mid-October will see the wandering physique go near the star Alkaphrah, or Chi Ursae Majoris within the constellation Ursa Main, just under the ‘dipper’ portion of the Huge Dipper asterism, earlier than beating a path by the night time sky in direction of the star Cor Caroli within the constellation Canes Venatici.
Comet Lemon will probably be within the coronary heart of the constellation Boötes, the Herdsman, because it makes its closest method to Earth on Oct. 21, earlier than travelling on to go beneath the top of the nice serpent represented within the constellation Serpens on Oct. 26 to 27.
The optimum hour to seek for the comet will shift relying on the time of the month wherein you’re looking. Comet Lemmon will probably be positioned excessive above the northeastern horizon within the hours previous daybreak in early October, however could have transitioned to the night sky by the point it makes its shut method to Earth on Oct. 21, when it can seem low on the northwestern horizon.
Involved in capturing Comet Lemmon with a digital camera for your self? Then make sure you learn our information on easy methods to picture a comet, together with our picks of one of the best cameras and lenses out there for astrophotography in 2025. Newbie astronomers also needs to take a look at our roundups of one of the best telescopes and binoculars for viewing the night time sky.
Editor’s Word: If you need to share your astrophotography with House.com’s readers, then please ship your picture(s), feedback, and your title and site to spacephotos@house.com.
