ByJamie Carter,
Senior Contributor.
Check my feed every day this month for a daily “comet tracker” with finder charts and tips for viewing Comet Lemmon and Comet SWAN from mid-northern latitudes. Also read How To Photograph The Green Comets and Best Stargazing Apps For Finding The Comets.
Have you seen the comets yet? Comets Lemmon (C/2025 A6) and SWAN (C/2025 R2) are now becoming visible in the post-sunset night sky and are due to reach maximum brightness around Oct. 20-21 — just as the annual Orionid meteor shower peaks. As if the prospect of two comets and around 20 "shooting stars" weren't enough to get you racing into rural areas at night, the Northern Lights are also possible.
October typically brings frequent and intense displays of aurora — and particularly this year. In the wake of the equinoxes in March and September, Earth’s magnetic field tilts into a more favorable orientation, allowing solar particles to interact more effectively with the magnetosphere. That's precisely what's been happening in 2025, with display after display for northern U.S. states and Canada. On the cards now is geomagnetic activity from Oct. 16 through Oct. 21 — exactly when the comets and the Orionids peak.
