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An Embarrassment of Sky Candy Riches

Charlie Martin | 5:00 AM on October 03, 2025
AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

It's been a really good week for astrophotography. Today's soundtrack:

I don't remember the last time there were two comets visible at the same time, although my research assistant noted a couple:

Yes, there have been several historical instances where two (or even more) bright comets were visible to the naked eye at the same time, often creating a striking spectacle in the night sky. These events are rare but well-documented, especially in the 20th century. One of the most notable examples occurred in October 1911, when Comet C/1911 R1 (Beljawsky) and Comet C/1911 O1 (Brooks) were both clearly visible in the western sky during evening twilight from around October 10–22.

  • Comet Brooks (discovered September 20, 1911) shone at about 1st magnitude with a golden-yellow head and an impressive tail stretching over 15 degrees.
  • Comet Beljawsky (discovered September 12, 1911) was slightly fainter but still a striking naked-eye object with a narrow, ray-like tail up to 20 degrees long.

Observers in the Northern Hemisphere described it as a "unique event," with the two comets appearing close together low in the west after sunset, almost like celestial companions. Both faded by late October as they moved toward the Sun.

Other documented cases from the 20th century include:

  • August 2004: Comets C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) and C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) both reached naked-eye visibility (around 3rd–4th magnitude) in the morning sky, visible simultaneously for Northern Hemisphere observers.
  • January 1978: Comets C/1977 H1 (Kobayashi) and C/1977 T1 (PanSTARRS? Wait, no—actually C/1978 H1 (Bradfield) overlapped briefly with fading remnants of earlier activity, but more precisely, this ties into a trio era; records note dual visibility around then).

These overlaps happen when multiple Oort Cloud comets get perturbed into the inner Solar System around the same time, and their orbits align for Earth-based viewing. If you're thinking of the current pair like C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) and C/2025 R2 (SWAN) in 2025, 1911's duo was similarly mesmerizing!

Andrew McCarthy has a showy picture of the Soul Nebula up this week.

Not to be outdone, Astrobin has this:

I think we've had the Bubble Nebula before, but this is pretty.

Here's the Statue of Liberty Nebula in a really nice shot.

Two, two, two nebulae in one!

Here's the neighborhood.

Some other excitement.

Let's you and him fight.

And the Webb Telescope offers this:

I think this one is just showing off.

This is the result of a drive-by hit-and-run galaxy.

And you thought holiday traffic was bad.

You can see some great stuff from Earth, too.

Okay, or near Earth.

As always, I can't resist the Seven Sisters.

And let's finish off with a spectacular launch shot, taken in twilight, as the rocket was fully sunlit.

And that's this week's Sky Candy. I'm going to plug my friend and sister-by-acclamation, Sarah Hoyt's new book, No Man's Land. It's a big book, in three volumes, and worth it. Also, I've been really slack with my Substack, The Stars Our Destination, but I'm going to get back on the wagon, or off the wagon, one of those two, this weekend.

Also, I've gotten the okay to start doing some science and tech posts that won't be VIP, so keep an eye open. And as always, I love getting comments.

See you next week.

Charlie Martin

Charlie Martin writes on science, health, culture, and technology for PJ Media. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

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