Amateur astronomers are monitoring a bright new comet easily detectable by backyard telescopes. Introducing, Comet SWAN25F:
Comet SWAN25F
© Mike OlasonComet SWAN25F taken by Mike Olason on April 6, 2025 @ Tucson, Arizona.
"Newly-discovered Comet SWAN25F is brightening nicely as it approaches the sun," reports Mike Olason, who sends these pictures from Tucson, Arizona. "On the morning of April 6th, the comet was magnitude 8.4 with a bright green 3' wide coma and a thin tail that extended well beyond my field of view."

The comet is named after the SWAN camera onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Australian amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo noticed the comet in online images. SWAN is a special camera that maps hydrogen in the solar wind, which suggests this comet may be rich in the element.

"The comet's tail is at least 2 degrees long," says Michael Jaeger, who teamed up with Gerald Rhemann to photograph the comet low in the morning sky from Weißenkirchen, Austria:
Comet SWAN2025F
© Michael Jaeger and Gerald RhemannTaken by Michael Jaeger and Gerald Rhemann on April 6, 2025 @ Weißenkirchen, Austria
"At the turn of the month, the comet could become brighter than 5th magnitude," predicts Jaeger.

"The comet appears to be brightening quite quickly," says Nick James of the British Astronomical Association. "It is too early to predict what the peak brightness will be. We need a few more days of observations to confirm the current trend, but it should become at least a binocular object."

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