Technologies

Two Rare Comets Will Appear Soon. Here’s How to See Them

The SWAN comet will return in around 700 years, while the Lemmon comet will take 1,300 years to come back.

A pair of once-in-a-lifetime comets will rocket through our skies this October, 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), look similar from our perspective.

You can spot these green gaseous globes and their streaming tails right now, but they’ll be even easier to see this coming week. SWAN will shine the brightest around Monday, Oct. 20, NBC News reports.

Just a day later, on Tuesday, Oct. 21, Lemmon will make its peak showing in the dark sky. You’ll be able to see Lemmon without any equipment, but SWAN will be pretty faint, says Jason Steffen, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UNLV.

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«Current models are showing the [Lemmon] comet will likely peak between 3.5 and 4.5 magnitudes when it is nearest to Earth on October 21, which is dimmer than what they showed last week,» Saint Louis Science Center wrote in an update. «This is still bright enough that it could become naked-eye visible from light-polluted locations.»

CNN reports that SWAN will next come by again in 650 to 700 years, and Lemmon won’t return for another 1,300 years.

«Comet Lemmon is called a non-periodic comet. Unlike Halley’s comet, which comes around every 76 years, a non-periodic comet’s orbit is really highly elliptical,» Steffen says. «The last time it was here was in the 700s.»

Comets are known to buck even the most careful predictions, but wary observers might catch these rare spectacles in October from their backyards in the predawn morning or night sky.

New comets on the scene

Lemmon and SWAN were both discovered in 2025. Lemmon was discovered on Jan. 3 in Arizona by the Mount Lemmon Survey using a 60-inch telescope installed on Mt. Lemmon to find celestial objects, which gave the comet its name.

A Ukrainian amateur astronomer named Vladimir Bezugly discovered the SWAN comet on Sept. 11 while he was looking through images captured by SWAN, a science instrument called Solar Wind ANisotropies, which is installed on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory in space.

«It was an easy comet for detection due to sufficient brightness in the (ultraviolet) band and location in the SWAN images, exactly in its center,» Bezugly told Universe Today. He also noted it’s the 20th official SWAN comet so far.

How to see Lemmon and SWAN this month

The darker the night sky, the easier it will be to see comets, moons, planets and stars. If you live in a city, bundle up and take an evening skygazing trip to the country, where there’s less light pollution. Oh, and grab blankets, chairs and something warm to drink.

It takes your eyes a while to adjust to the darkness. Find a comfortable spot where you can stay still and gaze up. The comets might be bright enough to see without aid, but NASA recommends binoculars as a great entry-level stargazing tool.

Telescopes are one of the best ways to skygaze, and you might be able to find one to use or rent at your local library or university. But modern telescopes can also be fairly affordable.

Smartphone apps can also be helpful when trying to identify celestial phenomena and where to find them. For a few recommendations, check out our list of stargazing apps.

A sky full of wonders

Aside from the newly discovered comets, skywatchers have a few other cosmic treats to enjoy this month.

The Orionids meteor shower, when Earth travels through the massive tail of Halley’s Comet, began earlier this month, but you’ll be able to see the meteors through the beginning of November.

The next supermoon, known as the Beaver Moon, will take place on Nov. 5.

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage.

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.