Phenomenal Photobombing Meteor Creates Spiral Over Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)

It is an efficient rule of thumb to attempt to see meteors with the bare eye. They transfer too shortly and they’re too ephemeral to catch them with a telescope. Still, all good guidelines have exceptions, and this newest exception created a surprising mirage round Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon), as a purple helix appears to wrap across the comet and its lengthy tail.

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The purpose for the spiral it was the presence of a meteor. Astronomer and creator of the Virtual Telescope Project Gianluca Masi was taking footage of Comet Lemmon on October 24 when a meteor flew by way of the western sky, the place the comet is at present seen in the intervening time. Meteors are small fragments of ice or rocks, typically from comets, that fly into the ambiance, burning brightly for a handful of seconds. As the meteor burns, it excites the gases of the ambiance, which proceed to shine within the speedy aftermath.

“The phenomenon is associated with the ionization of molecular oxygen in the atmosphere caused by the meteor event, followed by its recombination, which produces the emission of light at that wavelength. In this photograph, the meteor’s afterglow appears to coil around the comet’s ion tail – a pure perspective miracle, since the former is an atmospheric effect induced by the meteor, while the comet itself was about 100 million kilometers [62 million miles] away,” Masi wrote in a blog post accompanying the picture.

Comet Lemmon was closest to Earth final week, and it’s now getting nearer to the Sun. It is seen within the western sky after sundown, seen to the bare eye in darkish sky areas, or with a telescope or binoculars. It is prone to be the brightest comet this yr.  

“I had never documented anything quite like it before – and to have it happen right in front of such a remarkable comet as C/2025 A6 Lemmon makes it even more extraordinary,” Masi continued.

“I’m currently working on creating a time-lapse, but in the meantime, I wanted to share this wonder.”

As you may think about, we are able to’t wait to see it too!