The brightest comet of autumn will approach the Earth on October 21

On Tuesday, October 21, comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) will reach its closest approach to Earth, becoming the brightest autumn object of its kind. This was announced on October 17 by Lyudmila Koshman, an astronomer and head of the methodological support department at the Moscow Planetarium.

"On this day, the comet will pass its perigee, the closest point in its orbit to Earth, located at a distance of 89,185,647 km. Now the comet's brightness has reached the fifth magnitude (+4.8m), and it is becoming the brightest comet of autumn," the scientist told TASS.

According to the astronomer, this brightness allows you to observe a celestial body through binoculars or an amateur telescope, and in clear weather conditions — even without special instruments. She also noted that many images of the comet have already been obtained by amateur astronomers.

Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), discovered on January 3, 2025, will be available for observation in Russia and other countries of the Northern Hemisphere during October and November. Currently, it can be seen in the evening sky in the constellation of the Hounds, under the Dipper of Ursa Major, near the star Arcturus.

Lyudmila Koshman clarified that the comet will reach its peak brightness (more than +3.5m) around October 26.

"The Andromeda Nebula (M31) has the same brightness, which is observed with the naked eye in a clear dark sky," the expert added.

Asteroids and asteroids: should we be afraid of celestial bodies

The scientist told why earthlings should not be afraid of collisions with space objects.

Earlier, on October 15, the press service of the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the IKI RAS reported the second most powerful flare in the last four months, which occurred on the Sun. It is noted that Class X flares may occur during the day, and the multi-month record for the number of solar flares may also be broken.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.