2025r2 20250912 mmasek

here is an image of the potential new comet "SWAN25B." The comet was discovered by Vladimir Bezugly on SWAN instrument images. Vladimir contacted me asking if I could try to locate the comet using our robotic FRAM instrument (135mm f/2 telephoto lens + Moravian Instruments G4-16000 CCD) of the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences at the Cherenkov Telescope Array site near Cerro Paranal.
I was indeed able to confirm the comet, which was located near the position Vladimir provided. I submitted astrometric measurements (station 247) to the MPC. The comet is very bright, around 7.4 mag in the V filter, with a coma diameter of 3.7' and a tail length of 2.8° at a position angle of 114°. I was very pleasantly surprised by such a bright comet with a long tail — I originally expected to be searching for a small, faint patch.
Clear skies,
Martin Mašek