Today, 1 May 2025 Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) reaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun.
After it was discovered earlier this year, when the numbers were crunched and its track across the sky was plotted, many comet observers had high hopes for this icy visitor.
It seemed that Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) might reach 5th or perhaps even 4th magnitude at perihelion, when it would be found just above the famous Pleiades star cluster in the northern sky after sunset.
High in a dark sky that would have made the comet a good photographic target and a naked-eye object at perihelion… just… but it was never going to be high in a dark sky at that time.
Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) was only ever going to be very low in a bright twilight sky, making it a challenging binocular or even telescopic object.
Difficult, yes, but still worth looking for, and comet observers famously love a challenge…
Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.
As many promising comets have done in the past, and no doubt many more will do in the future, Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) has fallen apart on the way to its hot date with our closest star.
What happened?
A couple of weeks ago, Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) looked faint – 8th magnitude or so – but healthy.
It had a condensed, star-like head and a short, whip-like tail, and observers looked forward to it brightening and growing in size too, possibly developing a longer tail.
But over the past week, images of the comet taken with telescopes have shown it looks radically different. It now has no bright head and its thin tail has gone.
The comet is now just an elongated smear, like chalk dust smudged on a blackboard with a finger.
The comet has almost certainly disintegrated, and all that’s left of it is a trail of dusty debris, slowly spreading out along its orbit.
So, sadly, there’ll be no pretty images taken of the comet glowing close to the Pleiades, nor drifting through the Hyades.
Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) is another 'comet that got away'.
Frustrating? Yes. Unusual? No. This happens a lot. It’s just what some comets do.
And this highlights why it’s so unwise to hype up newly-found comets so much (like many online features did with this comet), even if they do initially look very promising.
It’s simply impossible to predict with any accuracy what comets will do. They’re the mischievous imps of the Solar System.
But comets are found all the time now, and it won’t be long before another promising comet comes along.
No doubt it will be predicted online to 'light up the sky' and 'delight stargazers around the world', and maybe it will.
But the vast majority never do. We just have to make the most of them while they happen to be visiting our neck of the Solar System.
Did you capture images of Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN)? Share them with us by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com
