Michael Mattiazzo is an amateur astronomer, with more than twenty years’ experience with telescopes. As always, he wowed the astronomical community with his enthusiasm and vision. On March 4, 2025 he discovered a new green comet — C/2025 F2 SWAN. This is an extraordinary accomplishment as it is his tenth successful identification based solely on publicly available data from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Mattiazzo’s enthusiasm for astronomy is as strong as ever. What worries him most is the state of amateur comet hunting today and the challenges of technology that I’ve brought about this new golden age.
For years, Mattiazzo has used publicly available data from SOHO to hunt down new comets. He often uses his own telescope — but mostly he works with digital images, mostly on his computer. His daily routine now consists of scanning a comparatively minuscule area of the sky that even well-funded, national professional surveys can’t cover. Yes, he has done a great deal, but still he fears. The future Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile would drastically limit access for amateur astronomers like him.
The Discovery of C/2025 F2 SWAN
C/2025 F2 SWAN is a wonderful and fitting tribute to Mattiazzo’s commitment and artistry at the craft of comet hunting. His rigorous analysis of SOHO’s data resulted in this most recent find. SOHO, with its real-time images of the entire solar system, made this historic first ever real-time achievement possible!
Mattiazzo’s innovative approach to using publicly available resources has allowed him to make impressive discoveries over the years, and continue making waves in the field of astronomy. His discoveries, which number in the hundreds, include highly ephemeral comets often overlooked by the larger professional telescopes. “That’s much harder to do than spending five minutes on a PC every day looking at an ultraviolet image,” he said, highlighting the accessibility of his approach.
His passion for comet hunting has led him to collaborate with other notable amateur astronomers such as Terry Lovejoy and Robert McNaught. Jointly, the two have co-discovered a remarkable number of comets since the early 2000s, and this new bond fuels a spirit of friendship in the comet-hunting community.
A Shifting Landscape for Amateur Astronomers
For all of Mattiazzo’s accomplishments, he’s worried about what new technologies entail for the future of amateur astronomy. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, equipped with a gigantic mirror and camera capable of capturing extensive celestial data, poses a potential threat to hobbyists.
I truly believe Vera Rubin is really going to close the door on us,” he said in an interview. He thinks that the observatory’s new capabilities, including better detectors, will only further make it a losing battle for amateur astronomers.
He elaborated on this concern, stating, “It has got a gigantic mirror on it with a gigantic camera … everything will get picked up.” As professional astronomers continue to leverage such cutting-edge technology, Mattiazzo and others worry they may be left behind in the search for new comets.
The Future of Comet Hunting
While looking ahead sometimes makes him feel like giving up, as Michael Mattiazzo looks back on his decade-long journey as an amateur astronomer, he’s all optimism. Though he’s not giving up anytime soon, he confesses that his days of discovering new comets are likely behind him.
In our last interview, he opined that C/2025 F2 SWAN might be his last great discovery. “The Sun is at solar maximum this year and it was just too much for this small, fragile, icy body getting so close to it,” he explained, contemplating the challenges faced by comets as they navigate near the Sun.
Mattiazzo opened up about his notoriously secretive comet hunting methods. “We sort of don’t, to be honest,” he said, pointing to the competitive nature of discovery that exists even among amateur astronomers. He acknowledges that there’s a limited window of time to catch comets that are coming in from behind the Sun. During these periods, such comets can remain months to years undetected.
Mattiazzo is still very thankful for the resources allowed by SOHO. He attributes this public platform not only for allowing his discoveries, but to bringing together this community of amateur astronomers.
