In a stunning celestial capture, an astrophotographer on Reunion Island has photographed two comets appearing to race side-by-side across the night sky.
The rare image, shared in a post on X, shows the comets C/2025 K1 ATLAS and C/2025 R2 SWAN blazing bright trails as they pass close to Earth.
What makes this sighting extraordinary is that one of the comets, C/2025 K1 ATLAS, is an interstellar visitor that originated from outside our solar system. Its trajectory is markedly different from the other comet, C/2025 R2 SWAN, which is native to the Sun’s gravitational influence.
Despite their vastly different origins and paths through space, from Earth they appeared side-by-side, creating a rare visual race across the skies.
The image captures C/2025 K1 ATLAS on the left and C/2025 R2 SW