Photo credit: Jonathan Tupper / Used with permission. © Jonathan Tupper. All rights reserved. Licensed to Harvard Media for one-time use only.
FORT McMURRAY— Stargazers across northern Alberta have a rare chance to glimpse Comet C/2025 A6 Lemmon as it reaches peak brightness in the evening sky.
Discovered earlier this year by the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona, the comet is now faintly visible to the naked eye from dark-sky locations. According to astrophotographer Richard Covey, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, it can just barely be seen without aid from areas like Tower Road or near Gregoire Lake.
“With binoculars, it really pops,” Covey said, adding that Saturday night may offer the best viewing opportunity with forecasts calling for clear skies and excellent seeing conditions.
Comet Lemmon will appear low in the western sky after sunset, near the bright star Arcturus. Its visibility will fade as November approaches. Covey cautioned that comets are notoriously hard to predict, since their brightness depends on how solar heat interacts with the comet’s icy surface to form a trail of gas and dust.
“One thing is certain,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-millennium comet, and it’s worth making an effort to go see.”
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