Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is visible to astronomy enthusiasts from our latitudes these days, reports Pencho Markishki, a physicist at the Institute of Astronomy with the National Astronomical Observatory at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and in the "Astronomy" department of the Faculty of Physics at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski".
Observations can be made both in the evening and early morning, before dawn, the specialist points out.
The astronomical object is currently located in the constellation Canes Venatici and has a brightness of 4.7 visible stellar magnitude, Markishki clarifies. He is the author of "Guide for the Amateur Astronomer", an edition of the "Astronomy" department of the Faculty of Physics at Sofia University, and gives advice on observing astronomical objects and phenomena.
According to Markishki, this evening, October 16, around 8:10 p.m. for an observer from the Sofia area, A6 (Lemmon) will be at an altitude of 12 degrees above the northwestern horizon. On the morning of October 17, around 6:10 a.m., the comet will be at an altitude of 18 degrees above the northeastern horizon. In these cases, observations should be carried out from a place with a low horizon in the mentioned directions, the expert emphasizes.
Although theoretically the comet could be seen with the naked eye, practice shows that this is impossible due to its small height above the horizon. However, a powerful binocular or a light-strong telescope would show the well-formed ionic tail of the celestial body, the physicist recommends.
C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) was discovered on January 3, 2025, by the Mount Lemmon Survey, which is part of the Catalina Sky Survey scientific program, aimed at searching for asteroids and comets. The program is carried out by the Catalina observing station of the Steward Observatory, located near Tucson, Arizona - USA.
The comet will pass closest to Earth on October 21, at a distance of about 89.16 million km from our planet. Closest to the Sun, at its perihelion, it will be on November 8, at a distance of 79.3 million km from it.