Comet – Astronomy Now

A stunning night sky composite photograph shows dozens of bright Perseid meteors streaking across the sky above a rural landscape, with the Milky Way arching overhead. The foreground features trees, a house, and softly lit structures, creating a serene countryside scene.

Meteor shower calendar

14 November 2025 Emily Baldwin-Fiebrich

There are many meteor showers throughout the year. Here are the most prominent.

How to observe meteor showers

14 November 2025 Emily Baldwin-Fiebrich

Everything you need to know to get started with observing meteors.

How to see Comet Lemmon

29 October 2025 Emily Baldwin-Fiebrich

Don’t miss the chance to see Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) as it races towards its closest approach of the Sun on 8 November.

Comet 2P/Encke on close approach to Earth

11 September 2023 Mark Armstrong

For the next month or so you can see the return of periodic comet 2P/Encke (Encke’s Comet).

Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) brightening with nice tail

4 September 2023 Mark Armstrong

Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) was discovered by on August 11 by Hideo Nishimura of Japan. It’s currently in the pre-dawn sky and visible through large binoculars, but you’ll need to observe as soon as possible this week.

New comet predicted to brighten rapidly as it sprints Sunwards

18 August 2023 Mark Armstrong

Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) is a brand new comet discovered by on August 11 by Hideo Nishimura of Japan. In its one and only visit to the Solar System, it may reach magnitude +2 when at perihelion in September.

Catch Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) this month

20 January 2023 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) is of special interest this January as at the time of writing (mid-November) it appears well on-course to be an easy binocular object and perhaps a marginal naked-eye comet.

The largest comet ever seen has been measured – and it’s a whopper

14 April 2022 Keith Cooper

The nucleus of the largest known comet in the Solar System, C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein), has been measured by the Hubble Space Telescope to be 129 kilometres across.

Interstellar comet 2I/Borisov may be most pristine ever seen

31 March 2021 Astronomy Now

The interstellar comet 2I/Borisov may be the most pristine ever observed, astronomers say, an untarnished remnant of another star’s nursery.

A naked-eye comet graces our skies

7 July 2020 Mark Armstrong

Comet 2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is putting on a fine showing in the pre-dawn northern sky after emerging intact from perihelion (closest point to the Sun).