\n The comet, known simply as Comet Lemmon, has been visible to the naked eye since mid-October, glowing with an apparent magnitude of around 4.3.\n<\/p>\n
\n Comet Lemmon (Image: AIJ photography)\n<\/p>\n
\n From vantage points in Stockton, Durham City, Alnwick and Darlington, the comet\u2019s glowing coma and faint tail were visible through binoculars, while under darker rural skies it could be glimpsed with the naked eye.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said Comet Lemmon was currently offering one of its best views.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cComet Lemmon is pretty much at its best visibility right now,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe best place to look is in the evening sky. As the sky darkens, the comet will first of all be moving, over a matter of days, past the bright star Arcturus, and then further round towards the southwest.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It will stand out as a fairly bright, fuzzy object.\n<\/p>\n
\n Comet Lemmon in Stockton (Image: Simon McCabe Photography)\n<\/p>\n
\n “The fact that you can see it easily with binoculars makes it fairly unusual, and I think for that reason alone it\u2019s something to go and enjoy, particularly if you\u2019ve never seen a comet before.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Massey added that while it may be \u201ca little tough\u201d to spot with the naked eye, the comet should still be \u201creasonably bright\u201d and visible through even modest binoculars.\n<\/p>\n
\n Milky Way on the left and comet lemon bottom right. Captured on the Durham Moors (Image: Robert Phelps)\n<\/p>\n
\n Discovered in January 2025 by the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona, the comet has an orbital period of roughly 1,150 years after this pass, meaning it won\u2019t return until the year 3375.\n<\/p>\n
\n Astronomers describe Comet Lemmon as a non-periodic or long-period comet, originating from the outer reaches of the Solar System.\n<\/p>\n
\n It reached its closest approach to Earth on 21 October 2025 but was able to be seen several days after that in the North East too.\n<\/p>\n
\n In Northumberland, clear skies over Kielder and Alnwick offered some of the best viewing conditions in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The comet, known simply as Comet Lemmon, has been visible to the naked eye since mid-October, glowing with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-229947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}