Photo: Dan Bartlett
A comet will fly in the sky around Christmas (and we’re not talking about Santa’s reindeer)!
It’s time to keep an eye out for agiant ice ballcalled Comet Leonard that is soon to become increasingly visible from Earth throughout the month of December as it heads towards the sun.
Patrick Prokop
The comet is directed sunward as it draws closer to its perihelion (the closest point to the sun) on Jan. 3, the state in which Leonard will be at its brightest. When it reaches itsclosest point to the Earth, it still won’t be particularly near as it will pass more than 21 million miles away.
UPDATE (12/17):Comet Leonard is approaching Venus sooner than expected, and will be viewable to skywatchers on Dec. 17 at approximately 9:08 p.m. EST. Venus is often referred to as the “evening star,” and can be seen low above the horizon shortly after the sun sets, according toSpace.com.
Want to spot Comet Leonard for yourself? Typically, this comet is considered too faint to see without binoculars, but as it moves closer to its perihelion, skywatchers have a chance to observe it with their naked eye in extremely dark skies.
Eddie Irizarry/Stellarium
“During the first two weeks of December, Comet Leonard will be accessible to early risers, visible a couple of hours before sunrise, low in the east-northeast sky,” reportedSpace.com. “It will track through the constellations Coma Berenices, Boötes and Serpens Caput.”
But eyeing Leonard is not guaranteed, as comets are often unpredictable. You might’ve heard the term “magnitude” used when describing a star’s apparent brightness but nowadays, the magnitude system includes the moon, planets, asteroidsandcomets within the solar system (and star clusters and galaxies that reside outside the solar system), according toEarthSky.org.
As Comet Leonard nears the sun towards January, it might reach 4th magnitude; but since comets are diffuse bodies, it won’t appear as bright compared to a 4th-magnitude star. The good news is, the moon will be absent during the twilight hours making the sky extra dark.
Getty
“Orbital calculations revealed that the object had spent the last 35,000 years wending its way sunward after reaching aphelion at the chilling distance of around 3,500 AU” (3,500 times the distance between our Earth and sun), reportedSkyandtelescope.com.
That means, spotting this comet is a once-in-a-lifetime experience since it takes tens of thousands of years to complete an orbit around the sun. (So, grab a pair ofbinoculars or a telescopeand look up!)
What are you looking for exactly? Don’t expect to view Leonard like you would a shooting star. Although this celestial visitor is an especially speedy comet, traveling at 158,084 miles per hour relative to Earth, it will appear very slow due to the large distance involved.
Comet Leonard was discovered on Jan. 3, 2021 “as a faint smudge in January 2021 when it was out past Mars,” according toNASA. Pictures were captured with it sporting a green-tinged coma and an extended dust tail, “composed from 62 images taken through a moderate-sized telescope – one set of exposures tracking the comet, while another set tracking the background stars,” continued the space agency.
source: people.com
