A special season for stargazers

A graphic of space and meteors (Ryan Win-Ruan/ The Puma Prensa)

By Ryan Win-Ruan, News Editor

The Earth is no stranger to astral visitors, and California is especially familiar with interplanetary objects. 

Just last year, the comet PT 2024 made a near-full orbit around Earth and was dubbed a “mini-moon” before shooting back into space. This year, a once-in-a-millennium situation is occurring, the culmination of several extremely rare events.

One of the comets, called C/2025 A6 “Lemmon,” is flying over California from mid-October to early November, before passing perihelion–the nearest point of orbit to the sun–on Nov 8 and flying back into space. 

The comet was discovered in January of 2025 and made headlines for its high visibility and green color, a rare sight in the starry night skies. Its unusual pathway and the extreme rarity of its appearance–on a pass-by of Earth every 1,400 or so years–have caught the attention of many stargazers and scientists alike.

However, it is not alone in the night sky: Comets 3I/ATLAS, C/2025 K1 (ATLAS)–two different comets–and SWAN are also flying across the stars at the same time, garnering similar attention for their green glow. Recently, though, C/2025 K1 has begun turning golden after nearly being destroyed by the Sun’s gravity, attracting even more popularity online. 

Additionally, three meteor showers will soon grace Earth’s skies in the coming months: the Southern Taurids, which will peak on Nov. 5, the Northern Taurids, which peak on Nov. 11-12, and the Leonids, which are brightest on Nov. 16-17.

This allure of the cosmic traffic is compounded by the extreme rarity of some of the phenomena. Although the Taurid showers are an annual event, the Leonid showers only happen once every 30 or so years, and the SWAN meteor orbits the sun once every 22,000 years. Not to mention the fact that 3I/ATLAS is only the third object in recorded history to pass through the solar system from a foreign source. 

So, if you’re interested in space, want to see a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, or are just simply looking for something to do this month, keep in mind that the sky is quite literally the limit!