A SWAN, an ATLAS, and Mars
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Adam Block
A new visitor to
the inner Solar System, comet
C/2025 R2
(SWAN)
sports a long ion tail extending diagonally across
this almost 7 degree wide telescopic field of view
recorded on September 21.
A fainter fellow comet also making its inner Solar System debut,
C/2025 K1 (ATLAS),
can be spotted above and left of SWAN's greenish coma,
just visible against the background sea of stars
in the constellation Virgo.
Both new comets were only discovered in 2025
and are joined in this celestial frame by ruddy planet Mars (bottom),
a more familiar wanderer in planet Earth's night skies.
The comets
may appear to be in a race, nearly neck and neck
in their voyage through the inner Solar System and around the Sun.
But this comet SWAN has already reached its perihelion
or closest approach to the Sun on September 12
and is now outbound along its orbit.
This comet ATLAS
is still inbound though, and will make its
perihelion passage on October 8.