Comets 2025: See the Next Comet in April 2025

If you’ve always wanted to see a comet, now is a great time! At the end of April, a newly discovered comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) will reach its brightest and become visible via binoculars in the Northern Hemisphere. Our Sky Tonight app will help you easily find any comet in the sky in your specific location. Let’s see what the heavens have in store for us!

Contents

• Newly Discovered Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN)
• C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)
• 210P/Christensen
• 24P/Schaumasse
• C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)
• How to find a comet using Sky Tonight?
• Next comet visible from Earth: Bottom line

Newly Discovered Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN)

• Perihelion: May 1, 2025 (mag ~5)
• Closest approach to Earth: May 1, 2025 (mag ~5)
• Where to observe: Northern Hemisphere (before perihelion), Southern Hemisphere (after perihelion)
• Visibility forecast: Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) will reach its closest point to the Sun on May 1, 2025, passing just 0.33 AU from it — inside Mercury's orbit. Around this time, it’s expected to brighten to about magnitude 5, making it easy to spot with binoculars. Right now, the comet is visible only from the Northern Hemisphere, low in the northwestern morning sky, with a current brightness of about magnitude 9. By the end of April, it will shift into the evening sky, but remain low on the horizon and set when astronomical twilight ends. After May 1, the comet will move into the Southern Hemisphere sky and no longer be visible from northern latitudes.
• Description: Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) was discovered on March 23, 2025, in images from the SOHO SWAN spacecraft. It’s likely a dynamically old comet, meaning it has passed near the Sun several times before. Its nucleus is thought to be quite small — probably less than 2.5 km in diameter. Interestingly, the comet was already quite bright — about magnitude 10 — when discovered, which is unusual for a new find. So why wasn’t it spotted earlier? There are a few possible reasons: it might have had a recent outburst, suddenly becoming brighter, or its orbit may have made it hard to spot with sky surveys. You can locate this comet right now with the help of the Sky Tonight app.

C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)

• Perihelion: November 8, 2025 (mag ~8)
• Closest approach to Earth: October 21, 2025 (mag ~8)
• Where to observe: Northern Hemisphere
• Visibility forecast: At the end of October 2025, Comet Lemmon will pass as close as 0.6 AU to Earth, conveniently positioned in the evening sky for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. In October and November, the comet might reach a magnitude of about 8 and become visible through binoculars. There is also a chance that C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) will become even brighter (about magnitude 3), as such comets tend to brighten significantly near perihelion. Let's keep our fingers crossed!
• Description: C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is a dynamically old comet, meaning it has passed close to the Sun multiple times. It was discovered on January 3, 2025, by astronomers at Arizona's Mount Lemmon Observatory, USA. Initially, the object was designated CCNG6P2; 1.5 months later, it was confirmed to be a comet and named C/2025 A6 (Lemmon).

210P/Christensen

• Perihelion: November 22, 2025 (mag 8.3)
• Closest approach to Earth: November 8, 2025 (mag 8.1)
• Where to observe: Northern Hemisphere
• Visibility forecast: In November 2025, Comet Christensen might become visible through binoculars.
• Description: 210P/Christensen is a Jupiter family periodic comet discovered by American astronomer Eric Christensen on May 26, 2003, in images taken by the Catalina Sky Survey. The comet has an orbital period of 5.7 years. Its nucleus is about 1.7 km (1.06 miles) in diameter.

24P/Schaumasse

• Perihelion: January 8, 2026 (mag 8.5)
• Closest approach to Earth: January 4, 2026 (mag 8.5)
• Where to observe: Both hemispheres
• Visibility forecast: Comet Schaumasse will reach its brightest in early 2026 and might become visible with binoculars. Before that, from November 8 to 11, 2025, the comet will be passing close to the famous Beehive Cluster (M44) in the sky, providing a good photo opportunity.
• Description: Comet 24/P Schaumasse is a periodic comet discovered by French astronomer Alexandre Schaumasse on 1 December 1911 in Nice, France. It has an orbital period of 8.18 years. The comet nucleus is estimated to be 2.6 km (1.6 miles) in diameter.

C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos)

• Perihelion: January 20, 2026 (mag 5.2)
• Closest approach to Earth: Feb 17, 2026 (mag 6.2)
• Where to observe: Northern Hemisphere (before perihelion), Southern Hemisphere (after perihelion)
• Visibility forecast: In the autumn of 2025, the comet may become visible through small telescopes or binoculars for observers in the Northern Hemisphere. Then, as the comet moves toward perihelion, it will be positioned too close to the Sun to be observable. After perihelion, it will be best observable from the Southern Hemisphere and might be visible with binoculars.
• Description: Comet C/2024 E1 Wierzchos was discovered by Polish astronomer Kacper Wierzchos on March 3, 2024, in images taken by the Mount Lemmon Survey. The comet’s orbital period is yet to be determined.

How to find a comet using Sky Tonight?

Comets are faint and fuzzy objects that are hard to detect, so it’s best to know their location for certain. The Sky Tonight app will help you quickly find any bright comet in the sky. Here’s what you need to do:

• Tap the magnifier icon at the lower part of the screen;
• In the Search field, enter the comet’s name or designatio;
• Find the comet in the search results and tap the blue target icon next to its name;
• The app will show the comet’s current location in the sky;
• Point your device at the sky and follow the white arrow to find the comet.

You can also tap the comet’s name in the search results and then go to the Events tab to view the events related to the comet: perihelion and closest approach to Earth. Tap the blue target icon next to the event to see the comet’s location at the time of perihelion or closest approach.

Next comet visible from Earth: Bottom line

The next comet to reach perihelion is C/2025 F2 (SWAN), which should become easy to spot with binoculars from the Northern Hemisphere in late April. We'll keep you updated on all the news about upcoming comets.

While working on this article, we used data provided by the Comet Observation database, TheSkyLive website, as well as by astronomers Gideon van Buitenen and Seiichi Yoshida.