{"id":225350,"date":"2025-10-19T15:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T15:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225350\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T15:05:08","slug":"watch-comets-lemmon-and-swan-make-their-closest-approach-to-earth-live-online-on-oct-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/225350\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch comets Lemmon and SWAN make their closest approach to Earth live online on Oct. 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

Comets C\/2025 A6 Lemmon & C\/2025 R2 SWAN at their closest approach to Earth \u2013 online observation – YouTube
\n\"Comets<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Two comets, C\/2025 A4 (Lemmon) and C\/2025 R2 (SWAN), are about to reach their closest approach to Earth and you can watch the action unfold live online.<\/p>\n

Astronomer Gianluca Masi and his Virtual Telescope Project will host a special livestream on Oct. 20 beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) to watch as both comets make a close pass to Earth, making them well placed for observations.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“So far, living in the Northern hemisphere, I could admire C\/2025 A6 Lemmon only,
but C\/2025 R2 SWAN is quickly joining the show and we are ready to amaze every
astronomy lover with our live feed!” Masi told Space.com in an email.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

You can watch the cosmic show live here on Space.com courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project or on the project’s website<\/a> or YouTube channel<\/a>, weather permitting.<\/p>\n

Rare double-comet encounter<\/p>\n

Having two right comets visible in the sky around the same time is a rare cosmic treat. During the event, Comet Lemmon (C\/2025 A6) will pass about 56 million miles (90 million kilometers) from Earth, while Comet Swan (C\/2025 R2) will soar even closer, at roughly 24 million miles (39 million km). Both are expected to peak in brightness between Oct. 20 and Oct. 21.<\/p>\n

Comet C\/2025 A6 (Lemmon) was discovered in January 2025 and has been steadily brightening as it soars through the inner solar system<\/a>. Lemmon is visible in a pair of binoculars or small telescopes in the western evening sky after sunset, slowly climbing higher each night as it moves northward.<\/p>\n

Comet C\/2025 R2 (SWAN) was discovered in September 2025 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory<\/a>‘s SWAN instrument. It is best viewed in the predawn sky, when the comet appears low on the eastern horizon as it continues its journey away from the sun<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n

If you’re hoping to spot the comets yourself, check out our guides to the best binoculars<\/a> and best telescopes for beginners<\/a>, as well as our how to photograph comets guide<\/a>. And don’t forget to explore our night sky<\/a> guide for more celestial highlights this month.<\/p>\n

Editor’s note: If you capture a photo of Comet Lemmon or Comet SWAN and would like to share it with Space.com, send your images and comments to spacephotos@space.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Comets C\/2025 A6 Lemmon & C\/2025 R2 SWAN at their closest approach to Earth \u2013 online observation –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[64,63,128,285],"class_list":{"0":"post-225350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-science","11":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}