At any given time, it is normal for there to be a dozen or more comets within photographic range. More rarely, one or more of these comets will be bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye or with small optical instruments such as binoculars. There are currently two "bright" comets: C/2025 A5 (Lemmon), near magnitude 4, and C/2025 R2 (SWAN), near magnitude 6. Comet Lemmon has been visible in the both the morning and evening sky. Comet SWAN is an evening-only object.
The following images were obtained over the past three days with an Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens and a Rokinon 135mm f/2 lens.
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| Morning Comet Lemmon rising over Snowshoe Mt. 6:05 am MDT, 20 Oct. | |
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| Morning Comet Lemmon, 5:48 am MDT, 18 Oct. |
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| The wispy tail extends about 3°. 5:48 am 18 Oct. |
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| Morning Comet Lemmon, 5:41 am 18 Oct. |
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| Evening Comet Lemmon over Bristol Head. 7:45 pm 18 Oct. |
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| Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) is the green blob in the upper-left corner. 18 Oct. |
Comet SWAN is currently traversing across the Milky Way. The nebulae M16 and M17 are on the right-hand side of the above image. The green glow of the comet is from the emission of diatomic carbon (C2).
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| A closer look at Comet SWAN on 19 Oct. |
One of the fainter comets is C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), near magnitude 13. It is just recognizable as a faint blob at the center of this 60 sec exposure:
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| Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos), 19 Oct. |
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| Evening Comet Lemmon, 7:40 pm MDT, 19 Oct. |
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