See Comet Lemmon cross paths with a cosmic serpent tonight

[LazyHippo]

Comet Lemmon 'C/2025 A6' shines among the stars in the night in the sky over Debrad, Slovakia on Oct. 20, 2025. (Image credit: Robert Nemeti/Anadolu)
 

Comet Lemmon will cut through the neck of a cosmic serpent on the night of Oct. 26, when it passes through the stars of the constellation Serpens Caput ahead of its close approach to the sun in early November.

 

The comet Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) was discovered on Jan. 3 earlier this year and has been brightening over the course of its subsequent headlong dive into the inner solar system. The brightening occurred as an increase in heat radiation from the sun vaporized icy materials embedded in its structure, creating a gaseous shell around its nucleus. The cometary material was then caught up in the solar wind, leading to the formation of a visually spectacular tail that shines in the reflected light of the sun.
 

Comet Lemmon is currently estimated to have a magnitude of around +4.3 according to the Comet Observation Database (COBS) run by the Crni Vrh Observatory in Slovenia, which should make it visible to the unaided eye from dark sky locations.

 

Look to the western horizon from a dark sky location at sunset on Oct. 26 to find Comet Lemmon's hazy light shine directly beneath the triangle formation of stars representing the head of the great snake in the constellation Serpens Caput. By the following night, the comet will have cut through the neck of the celestial serpent to approach the constellation Ophiuchus, the "snake bearer".

 

Ophiuchus constellation.