A recently discovered green comet, spotted by telescopes in recent weeks, appears to have disintegrated after its close pass by the sun—dashing hopes for a rare naked-eye sighting.
Known as Comet SWAN (C/2025 F2) and originating from the distant Oort Cloud beyond Pluto, the icy body was visible through binoculars and telescopes, sporting a glowing tail. However, experts now believe it didn’t survive its solar encounter and is rapidly fading.
“We’re likely left with a dusty pile of rubble,” said astrophysicist Karl Battams from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
Comets are icy remnants from the early solar system, and occasionally they swing through the inner regions. Jason Ybarra of West Virginia University described them as ancient relics from the system’s formation.
Discovered by amateur astronomers via images from a NASA-European Space Agency spacecraft monitoring the sun, this comet wasn’t expected to come near Earth—unlike previous visitors like Neowise in 2020 or Tsuchinshan-Atlas in 2024. While C/2025 F2 may have been visible just after sunset, its faint green glow would have been hard to detect without aid.
Experts believe this may have been the comet’s first journey past the sun, leaving it especially prone to breaking up. Whatever remains of it will now drift back into the far reaches of the solar system—possibly never to return.
Source: AP
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