A comet lights up the cosmos in a remarkable backdrop: SWAN (C/2025 R2) glided across a view anchored by the Eagle Nebula and its famed Pillars of Creation. The encounter occurred from the Atacama Desert's clear skies in Chile on the night of October 17 this year.
The Eagle Nebula dominates SWAN’s background—a sprawling cloud of dust and hydrogen-rich gas that glows under the ionizing radiation from its young, energetic stars. This luminous region earns its name from its birdlike silhouette, and it’s best known for the Pillars of Creation, a striking trio of radiation-sculpted columns formed from interstellar dust and gas. Images of this iconic feature have been captured by both the Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescopes, among many others. In the newly shared photo by Gasparri, the Pillars of Creation appear as small yet distinctive shapes to the left of SWAN’s glowing coma within the starry expanse of the Eagle Nebula.
Gear spotlight: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
If you’re aiming to photograph a nebula thousands of light-years away, the ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera stands out as a top choice among dedicated astro cameras. For a deeper dive into its capabilities, you can consult our detailed review of the model.
Gasparri captured the scene over 40 exposures of 120 seconds each, using a 130 mm Newtonian reflector in the skies above the Atacama Desert near Copiapó, where he works as a professional astronomer. He shared that the view through the eyepiece was equally stunning, with the familiar green coma drifting across one of the sky’s most observed nebulae.
Discovery and voyage: C/2025 R2 (SWAN)
The comet was first spotted by Ukrainian astronomer Vladimir Bezgly on September 10, 2025, using data from NASA’s SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft’s SWAN camera. After skimming the inner solar system and surviving a close solar pass on September 12, SWAN is now moving outward toward the distant reaches of the solar system. It won’t return for roughly 1,400 years.
Stay prepared for future celestial visitors and night-sky events by checking our roundups for the best beginner-friendly telescopes and binoculars. Astrophotographers may also want to explore our picks for the top cameras and lenses suited to capturing the post-sunset universe.
Note from the editors: If you’d like to share your astrophotography with Space.com readers, please email your photo(s), a short description, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
Anthony Wood joined Space.com in April 2025. His background includes work with IGN, New Atlas, and Gizmodo, and he brings a deep enthusiasm for the night sky, science, and the future of human space exploration. He looks forward to the day astronauts step foot on the Moon again.
