You need to see this bright new comet shining in the night sky this month before it disappears for 1,000 years.

This year is the time of comet bloom. Not only do we have the 3I/ATLAS interstellar object gracing our skies (And Mars) earlier this year, but now we have a whole new comet to look out for.

Its brightness is expected to peak on October 21, and this month you may have the opportunity to see Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) glowing in the night sky without the need for a telescope or binoculars.

Lemons were first discovered in January of this year by the Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona. As amateur astronomers know, many comets will pass beyond the detection range of binoculars or telescopes. Any particular year. But it is rare for a comet to shine bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. October 21 also happens to be the date of the new moon, meaning the sky will be dark and ripe for the comet’s passage.

Nick James of the British Astronomical Society said: “This comet is evolving very well and is already an impressive object, well placed for observation in the morning sky.” Spaceweather.com. “It’s definitely worth waking up for!”

Anatomy of a comet

Comets, simply put, arecosmic snowballs,“celestial bodies of icy material orbiting the Sun. Predicting its appearance and path is no easy task, but Limon’s unusually active and bright tail has allowed professional and lay observers alike to determine its likely path through the solar system.

At its closest point to Earth, Lemon will be about to arrive 56 million miles (90 million km). Limon’s current orbital period is about 1,350 years, which will be reduced to about 1,150 years after it passes through the Sun’s gravitational field in November. That is, if you miss seeing the comet this year, you will have to wait until at least the year 3175 to see it again.

How to spot lemon

As of now, Lemon can only be seen in the morning, although the comet’s path will gradually allow observers to spot it in the evening. Last month, it passed the constellation Gemini, traveling across the sky until it entered the Big Dipper earlier this month.

Again, the comet’s brightness can be shifting, so it may become dimmer than expected. But astronomers are reasonably confident about them Current forecasts. “

So far, the comet has performed very well, and there is no reason not to believe that it will continue to delight Northern Hemisphere observers for a few more weeks. Space.com website.

“I think we can now be reasonably confident that this will be a very nice evening object when it is at its peak brightness around the new moon in late October,” James said.