Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN meets Messier 16 and Messier 17: a new image – 18 Oct. 2025.
While surfing the night sky, comet C/2025 R2 SWAN crossed a precious spot of heaven, featuring some of the finest emission nebulae: Messier 16 and Messier 17. We present our second, successful attempt to capture that beautiful meeting.
Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN with Messier 16 and Messier: 17 and 18 Oct. 2025.
The composition above used data from both Oct. 17 and 18. This is why we see the (green) comet twice: on the right, we see C/2025 R2 SWAN where it was on Oct. 17; on the left, we see it where it was the next day.
We averaged two pictures, each coming from the average of five, 120-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.
Several deep-sky gems are visible. Messier 16 is close to the center, a bit on the right; below, we see Messier 17, incidentally named the “Swan” nebula. On the upper border, the blue reflecting nebula is IC 1287, with the open cluster NGC 6649 on its upper left. It is almost impossible to list all the object included in this 9.6 x 7.2 square degrees picture.
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