October 2025: Night Sky Preview
October 2025, like October 2024 may provide a naked eye comet. How exciting! Not only one, but there is the potential of a second as well.
Most exciting:
Comet C/2025 A6 (LEMMON)
Orionid meteor shower
Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)
Comets
The most promising comet is C/2025 A6 (LEMMON) named after the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona where it was discovered.
October 7 will be a good starting point for observing this comet, although it may be possible to see it earlier. It will begin low in the northwest sky as it get dark out. Towards midnight, it will dip to the horizon before rising again and will be visible until the dawn. Best visibility will be from ~03:00 - 06:00 on October 8.
Each day after, it will start higher and rise lower.
By October 20, it will mostly only be visible in the evening from about 20:00 - 22:00. The new moon is on October 20, so this may be an ideal time to shoot. Check the night sky chart below for help planning other dates.
LEMMON is predicted to reach a peak magnitude of 2, which is a brightness comparable to Polaris, the North Star, and visible from downtown urban areas.
A prediction is just that, so consider it a best case scenario.
Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN) will also have visibility starting potentially as early as October 7, and will start higher in the sky each night after as dark sets in.
Swan will be visible in the southwest sky. It is expected to reach a peak magnitude of about 5, which is close to the limit of naked eye visibility under ideal conditions (total dark sky). You would have better luck seeing Swan through binoculars.
Photographers may have an opportunity to catch Swan close to the Milky Way Core.
Meteor Showers
There will be two meteor showers in October.
The Draconids peak on Oct 8 with up to 5 meteors per hour. Proximity to the full moon will make this a difficult event to observe.
The Orionids peak on Oct 20 with up to 20 meteors per hour. With the new moon on Oct 21, conditions will be near ideal.
Milky Way
The chart below provides windows of opportunity for observing and photography.
Rows highlighted in red represent nights where the moon is above the horizon for the full duration of the Milky Way core window.
Rows highlighted in green are your best nights for astrophotography. They represent nights where the moon is below the horizon for the full duration of the Milky Way core window.
October 29 is the last day of the year that the galactic core will be visible, for a window of just two minutes.
When no MW core is visible, best nights are calculated as duration of night where the moon is below the horizon.
If You’re Planning to Shoot It
Plan ahead and keep flexible. Monitor weather forecasts, moon rise/set times, and comet ephemeris.
Scout dark sites—get some distance from city glare.
For the comets, get your gear ready early (wide angle + some telephoto) so you can catch both.
For the meteor shower (Orionids), a wide field, long exposure, maybe stacked images can help you capture more.
Bring warm gear, tripod, lens heater (or way to deal with dew), and spare batteries (cold drains batteries fast).