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Rare Celestial Alignment Captured: Meteor Appears to Wrap Around comet in Italian Sky
Italy – A photographer captured a stunning and rare visual phenomenon this week: a meteor appearing to intersect with the tail of Comet Lemmon, officially designated C/2025 A6 (lemmon). The image, taken from Italy, shows the meteor’s afterglow seemingly wrapping around the comet’s ionic tail, creating what astrophysicist Gianluca Masi of the Virtual Telescope Project described as “a true miracle of perspective.”
Though the celestial bodies were millions of kilometers apart – the meteor crossed Earth’s atmosphere while the comet passed approximately 100 million kilometers away – the alignment and timing of the event created the illusion of a close encounter. According to Masi, the recording was possible due to a precise alignment between the field of vision and the meteor’s passage.
Meteors can travel at speeds exceeding 160,000 km/h, leaving luminous trails of ionized particles that can remain visible for several minutes. These trails are shaped by atmospheric winds, creating ephemeral forms.
Comet Lemmon is currently one of three comets visible in the Solar System, alongside R2 (SWAN) and 3I/ATLAS, and is considered the brightest of the trio. Its bluish tail is formed by ionized gases released from its surface and propelled by the solar wind, making it observable with telescopes or binoculars, notably since its closest approach to Earth on October 21.
Masi also observed a golden spiral in the image,attributing it to the ionization of molecular oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere caused by the meteor’s rapid passage,followed by particle recombination and light emission.
