A new visitor from the outer solar system C/2025 R2 (SWAN) comet (also known as SWAN25B), was discovered late last week, on September 11. Just one day after its discovery, this comet reached its perihelion, the point in its orbit closest to the Sun. The comet was initially detected by Vladimir Bezugly in images captured by the SWAN instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Despite the comet’s impressive brightness, observing it is quite challenging due to the interference from the Sun’s strong light. On September 17, this snapshot taken by the telescope captured the image of C/2025 R2 (SWAN) comet, which was still relatively close to the Sun in the sky, displaying a pale green coma and tail. In the upper left corner of the image, the brightest star in Virgo, “Spica”, can be seen; at that time, the comet was approximately 6.5 light years away from Earth. Currently, the comet can be observed near the western horizon after sunset, and it is relatively easier to observe in the Southern Hemisphere using binoculars. On October 2, this SWAN comet will pass near the bright star “Alpha Librae”. Additionally, C/2025 R2 (SWAN) comet is expected to reach its perihelion around October 20.
Image source and copyright: Team Ciel Austral
Original link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html