Three bright comets, each with a glowing tail, streak across night skies in separate panels; the center comet appears over mountains and a body of water, while the other two comets are set against star-filled skies.Left to right: Andrew McCarthy, Mike Carroll, and AJ Smadi.

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) made its closest pass to Earth this week and was even visible to the naked eye. Humanity may not see it again for another 1,300 years.

But fortunately, astrophotographers were on hand to immortalize Comet Lemmon. Mike Carroll captured it over Slide Mountain, the highest peak in the Catskill Mountains, New York, on a Sony a7R V and a Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 DG DN OS Sports lens.

A bright comet with a visible tail streaks across a star-filled night sky above dark, rolling hills. Below, a well-lit bridge crosses a calm river, with some trees and lights along the shore.Mike Carroll (@jerseyportraits)

AJ Smadi from Washington captured Lemmon via “11 minutes worth of data” which, despite the clouds, was more than enough for “astounding results.”

A bright green comet with a glowing white core and a long, blue-tinged tail streams across a star-filled night sky.AJ Smadi (@aj.smadi) used a Canon EOS 6D, Sigma 150-600mm lens. 58 x 13-second subs [individual frames], ISO 2000 f/6.3. A bright comet with a glowing greenish core and a long, luminous blue and white tail streaks across a star-filled night sky.AJ Smadi (@aj.smadi)

Frequent PetaPixel contributor Andrew McCarthy captured what he calls “probably the coolest comet shot I’ve ever gotten.” He says the comet’s trail was “incredibly active and moving quickly.” It made photographing it tough.

A bright comet with a glowing green head and long blue and orange tails streaks across a star-filled, dark night sky.Andrew McCarthy (@cosmic_background)

Check out this crazy timelapse I made last night of the Lemmon comet. You can see how the chunks in the tail stream off into space! pic.twitter.com/PcPt1V3e7t

— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) October 27, 2025

Photographer Dimitrios Katevainis captured the comet in western skies as it passed its closest distance to Earth. “On 23 October the ion tail was quite active, with knots and disconnections,” he writes.

Equipment: 135mm Samyang f/2 wide open, unmodified Olympus E-PL5. 23x15s and 1x25s ISO 1600 frames from Bortle 3 skies of eastern Crete. Edited with DSS and SIRIL. Dimitrios Katevainis

Chuck Ayoub captured a mesmerizing video showing 55 minutes of Comet Lemmon’s movement. While Bray Falls captured an amazing shot of Lemmon traveling over his remote observatory.

A bright comet with a glowing head and long, streaming tail travels through a star-filled night sky, leaving a luminous trail behind it.

Comet Lemmon captured over the observatory the other night! pic.twitter.com/sJ9r8t0Vfj

— Bray Falls (@astrofalls) October 23, 2025

Comet Lemmon was discovered on January 3 this year and has dramatically brightened during its headfirst dive into the solar system. Space.com notes that solar winds have created its visually spectacular tail that reflects in the sunlight.

Lemmon is traveling away from the constellation Serpens Caput and toward the constellation Ophiuchus. It will closely approach the Sun on November 8.