The past month has seen Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) brightening rapidly ahead of its close approach to the sun, leading to growing excitement that it could shine brightly enough to be seen by the naked eye in mid-late October.
Solar system comets tend to become increasingly active and bright in the weeks and months leading up to perihelion — their closest approach to the sun in a given orbit — and Comet Lemmon is no exception. Heat and energy from the sun vaporizes the comet's icy deposits, transforming them into a gaseous central coma and tail that drags dusty particles along with it, which reflect sunlight and create the dramatic spectacles we see through telescopes or in the night sky.
