THE EERIE QUIET OF 10 SUNSPOT GROUPS: All week long, 10 to 12 sunspot groups have peppered the solar disk. Usually, this would be a recipe for high solar activity. However, the sunpots have been relatively quiet. The calm before the storm? Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
DON'T FORGET COMET LEMMON: With so much attention on interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS, it is easy to forget a local comet brightening so rapidly that ordinary sky watchers will soon be able to see it with their own eyes: Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6). It is falling toward the sun for a close encounter near the orbit of Mercury on Nov. 8th.
"This comet is developing very nicely and it is already an impressive object, well-placed for observation in the morning sky," says Nick James of the British Astronomical Association. "It is definitely worth getting up for!"
The light curve of Comet Lemmon suggests it will reach naked-eye visibility during the first week of October:
"I think we can now be reasonably confident that this will be a very nice evening object when it is at its brightest around New Moon in late October," says James.
The comet's tail is remarkably active. "This morning it showed some motion with a large blob of material moving rapidly away from the head," James reports.
"On Sept 21st, the tail was so active that even modest equipment (600 mm telephoto lens on my mirrorless camera) revealed interesting details," says Beáta Ujvárosi, who sends this movie from Vácrátót, Hungary:
The comet's tail is buffeted by the solar wind, but that may not be enough to explain so much activity. Some of twirls and knots may be caused by irregular outgassing in the comet's icy core, which is being exposed to the sun's heat for the first time in more than a thousand years.
In the weeks ahead, the comet will glide below the Big Dipper and become circumpolar for latitudes above 48N. Check Sky and Telescope for finder charts, and submit your photos here.
Realtime Comet Lemmon Photo Gallery
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ALIEN RANSOM CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: You can't buy this on Amazon. The Alien Ransom Christmas Ornament is only available from the Earth to Sky Store. On Sept. 15, 2025, it flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. Think of it as Santa's ransom :) Hand-sculpted in the USA, this humorous ornament is intricately detailed, from the alien pilot to Santa's boots. Durable polyresin construction makes it lightweight enough to hang on any tree but sturdy enough to last for many Christmases to come.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
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Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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