A New Comet Is Streaking Across the Morning Sky. Catch It Before the Sun Does

A precocious discovered comet is presently gracing our greeting skies, with its signature greenish glow and agelong process trailing behind. Comet SWAN25F is speeding toward the Sun for a dangerously adjacent approach, which mightiness either destruct it oregon marque it disposable to the bare eye. In the meantime, the agleam comet tin beryllium spotted with a scope oregon a brace of binoculars arsenic it streaks crossed the sky.

Astronomers discovered the comet successful images captured by the SWAN instrumentality aboard NASA’s Sun-watching SOHO spacecraft. On April 8, the Minor Planet Center designated the comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN), and entity watchers were anxious to spot it. Here’s however you tin bask a glimmering presumption of the comet earlier it reaches its closest attack to the Sun during the aboriginal days of May.

New agleam comet SWAN25F
2025-04-06 UT 2.50
LRGB 16/5/5/5 min 11"/2.2 RASA QHY600
Michael Jäger, Gerald Rhemann pic.twitter.com/FJuwRVGMd5

— Michael Jäger (@Komet123Jager) April 6, 2025

How to spot Comet SWAN

The comet is disposable successful the greeting sky, and tin beryllium spotted successful the eastbound successful the hours conscionable earlier the twilight of dawn begins to instrumentality over.

Comet C/2025 F2 is wrong the Great Square of Pegasus, a constellation successful the bluish entity named aft the winged equine successful Greek mythology, and it’s moving toward the Andromeda constellation, according to EarthSky. In bid to presumption the comet, look toward the prima Alpha Andromedae, the brightest prima of the 4 points that marque up the Great Square successful Pegasus. On April 13, the comet volition walk adjacent to the agleam star.

The comet is presently astatine a magnitude of +8, making it excessively faint to spot with the bare eye. You’ll request a scope oregon a brace of binoculars to drawback a glimpse. Be definite to aftermath up earlier greeting twilight washes it from view. Despite its tiny size, the comet should look arsenic a greenish sphere with a faint process trailing behind.

A contention to the Sun

The comet is presently racing toward greatness oregon doom, depending connected the result of its adjacent brushwood with the Sun.

Comets are the frozen leftovers from the enactment of the star system, and are made up of worldly specified arsenic dust, rock, and ice. As comets orbit person to the Sun, they vigor up and spew gases and dust. That’s the glowing caput that we see, which tin beryllium larger than astir planets. Then the remaining particulate and state signifier a agelong tail, which stretches distant from the Sun for millions of miles, according to NASA.

When comets attack perihelion—the closest constituent to the Sun—the vigor from the prima tin origin the comet to wholly disintegrate and vanish from existence. On the different hand, if comets hap to past the perihelion, they tin look overmuch brighter successful the skies.

Comet C/2025 F2 is connected a way toward the Sun, with preliminary estimates suggesting it volition marque its closest attack to the Sun connected May 1, according to EarthSky. The comet volition travel wrong 31 cardinal miles (50 cardinal kilometers) from the Sun, oregon conscionable wrong the orbit of the closest satellite to the star, Mercury. During perihelion, the comet volition beryllium astatine a brightness magnitude betwixt 4.5 to 5, but it volition apt beryllium excessively adjacent to the skyline to spot astatine that time. If it does past the heated encounter, it volition statesman to look successful the dusk entity alternatively than astatine dawn during the archetypal fewer days of May. It’s not wide yet precisely however overmuch brighter it volition be.

That’s bully quality for those who aren’t a instrumentality of aboriginal greeting entity watching sessions, truthful hopefully the comet does past its rendezvous with our big star. We’re rooting for you, C/2025 F2.