‘Lucky’ photographer snaps Comet Lemmon over Lancaster sculpture

A photographer says he feels “very lucky” to have captured Comet C/2025 A6 as it appeared over the Lancaster bomber sculpture in Norton Disney.

Also known as Comet Lemmon, it was first detected in January by stargazers at the Mount Lemmon Survey in the US.

Steve Fearn, 52, from Lincolnshire, said it was “quite a buzz, capturing something so unique” as he pictured it over the life-size sculpture of the bomber, titled On Freedom’s Wings, which honours RAF crews of World War Two.

The image also shows a grey light going across the sky, which he said he believed was fuel from a Space X rocket.

“Comet Lemon is nice to look at because it has quite a distinctive blue ion tail, so it was quite satisfying,” Mr Fearn added.

“I feel very lucky to have captured it,” he said.

A comet is a big ball of ice, dust and rock that orbits the sun. They are best known for their long tails.

Mr Fearn said the image was captured by using a tracking mount, which counters the earth’s rotation and follows objects in the sky.

He added that he had struggled to record the comet due to recent weather.

He said he had previously captured images of Comet Neowise and Comet Atlas.

Comet Lemmon came closest to the earth on 21 October, when it was 56 million miles (90 million km) away. It is expected to be visible into the start of November.