New Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN): View from Mexico at Sunset
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Yesterday, the Minor Planet Center gave Comet SWAN25B its official name: C/2025 R2 (SWAN). Between October 18-21, 2025, Comet SWAN will be only 0.26 astronomical units AU from our planet. If it does not fall apart between now and then, it could become a beautiful target for photographers and backyard astronomers. Another date of interest is Oct. 4-6 when Earth may cross the comet's debris stream. If so, we could have a meteor shower. Stay tuned for updates.
This newly discovered comet is already visible with binoculars. The comet, C/2025 R2 (SWAN), nicknamed SWAN25B, is brightening significantly as it emerges from the Sun's direction and might soon become visible on your smartphone—if not your eyes. Although the brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, many comets appear brighter as they approach the Earth, with C/2025 R2 (SWAN) reaching only a quarter of the Earth-Sun distance near October 19, 2025. Nighttime skygazers will also be watching for a C/2025 R2 (SWAN)-spawned meteor shower around October 5 when our Earth passes through the plane of the comet's orbit. The unexpectedly bright comet was discovered by an amateur astronomer in images of the SWAN instrument on NASA's SOHO satellite. The comet is currently best observed in southern skies but is slowly moving north. The featured image was captured at sunset three days ago just above the western horizon in Zacatecas, Mexico.
The astronomical unit is a unit of length defined to be exactly equal to 149597870700 meters. Historically, the astronomical unit was conceived as the average Earth-Sun distance, the average of Earth's aphelion (furthest from Sun) and perihelion (closest to Sun), before its modern redefinition in 2012. The astronomical unit is used primarily for measuring distances within the Solar System or around other stars. It is also a fundamental component in the definition of another unit of astronomical length, the parsec. One au is approximately equivalent to 499 light-seconds. A light-second is the distance light travels within free space in one second.
Image Description: A starfield is seen above a horizon and an orange sunset. In the starfield, near the horizon, is a comet with a green head and long tail.
Release Date: Sept. 16, 2025
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