An astronomer in Italy caught a fortuitous image of the bright comet Lemmon seemingly entwined with the glowing trail of a "shooting star."

A pair of once-in-a-lifetime comets are rocketing through our skies right now, and it's a rare treat because they won't be back for hundreds of years. The comets, C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) and C/2025 R2 (SWAN),

The comet is on what’s known as a hyperbolic trajectory, which means that it doesn’t follow an orbital path around the sun. It’s also traveling at about 137,000 miles per hour, which is too fast for the comet to be slowed down by the sun’s gravity.

Astronomer Gianluca Masi and his Virtual Telescope Project will host a special livestream on Oct. 24 beginning at 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT) to watch as both comets make a close pass to Earth, making them well placed for observations.

A rare encounter of two comets this week will have stargazers in awe after nearly a year of no easily seen comets.

Skywatchers can catch a rare glimpse of Comet Lemmon this month, and it won't be back until around the year 3175. Here's how and when to spot the sparkly green comet.