Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN with Messier 16 and Messier 17 – 17 Oct. 2025.
The beautiful comet C/2025 R2 SWAN is putting a wonderful show out there, thanks to the deep-sky friends it is meeting.
Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN with Messier 16 and Messier 17. 17 Oct. 2025.
The image above comes from the average of five, six-second exposures, remotely taken with the Samyang 135+Paramount ME+ZWO ASI 6200MC Pro robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project facility in Manciano, Italy.
“Last night I was in Manciano, in the province of Grosseto, under the most starry sky of peninsular Italy.
My trip served, first of all, to carry out some routine maintenance on the complex scientific equipment of the Virtual Telescope Project in preparation for the winter season. But the deeper motivation was the chance to observe the comet of the moment, C/2025 A6 Lemmon. I had with me my trusty 12×70 binoculars, perfect for this kind of experience.
After spending the afternoon cleaning, lubricating and checking the components of the four robotic telescopes installed there – with all the related systems – at dusk I prepared the instruments I intended to use to capture both comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon and the more modest C/2025 R2 SWAN.
The latter, far less bright than the first, is currently crossing the region of the sky between Serpens Cauda and Sagittarius, where the Milky Way beautifully showcases some of the finest deep-sky jewels, such as the splendid nebulae Messier 16 and Messier 17. These very nebulae were to be “visited” in perspective by SWAN.
The afternoon had been cloudy, then the sky cleared up, though without guarantees. When it was dark enough, I aimed both the 250mm astrograph and the wide-field 135mm astrograph at Lemmon, then directed the latter toward SWAN and the nebulae I mentioned.
While the instruments were collecting data, I was able to admire Lemmon through the binoculars: seeing it with my own eyes, with its long, diaphanous tail, was truly moving.
Toward the southwest, where SWAN was located, clouds arrived, so I had to stop the imaging session after capturing only a few frames. Yet, thanks to the site’s extraordinary sky, when processing the data, the image of SWAN—accompanied by M16 and M17—really does justice to the beauty of the heavens”.
Gianluca Masi
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