Rare visitors from space – two comets visible in the night sky in October

Two comets will be visible in the night sky in the second half of October: "Swan" and "Lemmon".

Swan was only discovered in September and will approach Earth to within around 30 million kilometres.

It will reach its maximum brightness around October 20th and can even be seen with the naked eye in clear weather. Especially in the evening hours, the comet is clearly visible in the south-western dark sky, offering amateur astronomers an impressive spectacle.

The other comet, Lemmon, is an extremely rare visitor: its last visit was over 1,300 years ago. At the end of October, it will reach its closest point to Earth and will then be particularly bright. Early risers can observe it with binoculars in the early hours of the morning, when it is very high in the sky.

Both celestial bodies consist of ice, dust, and rock – ancient remnants from the early days of our solar system.