Two Comets are Better Than One!
The October night skies gave us a chance to see two Comets: C/2025 R2, the Swan Comet, and C/2025 A6, the Lemmon Comet.
Both comets were discovered in 2025. The “A” in C/2025 A6 means the Lemmon Comet was discovered in the first half of January, and it was the sixth comet discovered in that 15-day period. Similarly, the C/2025 R2 means the Swan Comet was discovered during the first half of September and was the second comet discovered during that period. The names Lemmon and Swan are indicative of where the comets were discovered. Lemmon means the Mount Lemmon Survey, which is in Arizona. Swan is an acronym for Solar Wind Anisotropies instrument on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft.
The picture above was taken on October 20 with my 8” telescope, and it has been cropped to highlight the comet. The SWAN comet was not visible to the naked eye, and I couldn’t see it with binoculars either.
The Swan Comet was about 26 million miles away from us on the 20th, and that was its closest approach to Earth. It was traveling at about 106 thousand miles per hour. You can expect to see it again in about 802 years.
The Lemmon Comet, on the other hand, could be seen with the naked eye, even though it was about 55 million miles away. It’s traveling at about 134 thousand miles per hour. This is what it looked like through my 8” scope.
What you can look for in November’s Night Skies
If you get a clear evening during the first week of November, you might be able to see the Lemmon Comet about 20 degrees above the western horizon. Many sites are saying it is easily visible with the naked eye, but I am a bit skeptical about that. When I saw it on October 20 (when it was supposed to be near its brightest), it appeared as a small, faint, greenish sphere. I’d use binoculars to make finding this comet easier.
The Pleiades (M45) rise in the ENE just before 7:00 p.m. (EDT). This star cluster is always great to look at with your naked eye, followed by viewing it through a good pair of binoculars.
The constellation Orion is fully visible just before 11:00 p.m. (EDT) on November 1. The Great Orion Nebula (M42) is located on Orion’s sword. With a visual magnitude of +4.0 it’s fairly easy to spot with your un-aided eye.
If you’re looking at Orion, there’s a chance you might see some shooting stars from the Orionid meteor showers that peaked in October. This activity is called the November Orionids and lasts for most of the month.
The Southern Taurids peak in November on the night of November 4. The shooting stars will appear to originate from the Pleiades. It is followed by the Northern Taurids peaking on the 5th and appearing about 10 degrees north of the Southern Taurids. Both of these meteor showers are considered minor with each one producing about fove shooting stars per hour, but these can be brilliant fireballs!
The Leonids meteor shower peaks on November 17 at 5:00 a.m. (EST). This is a major shower with about 15 shooting stars per hour. As the name implies, the Leonids appear to originate from the constellation Leo. Leo rises in the East at about 2:00 a.m., so you probably expect some activity any time after that.
Moon Phases:
Full Moon is November 5
Last Quarter is November 12
New Moon is November 20
1st Quarter is November 28
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