‘Christmas Comet Leonard’ is Coming to Town
Written by admin on December 1, 2021
‘Christmas Comet Leonard’ otherwise known as Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard), is heading this way ending its journey around the sun.
The comet was first detected as a faint smudge earlier in 2021 when it was out past Mars. It’s orbit will take it around Earth and Venus before it swings back around the sun in early January 2022. It’s been dubbed the ‘Christmas Comet’ due to its proximity to December 25th.
Comet Leonard can be found just before sunrise. It’s too faint to see with the naked eye, so binoculars or a telescope will work best. Look east about 90 minutes before sunrise, and it will be to the right of the Big Dipper’s handle tip.
The comet will be “closest” (21 million miles) to the Earth on December 12th.
However, around December 14-16th, Comet Leonard will be visible just after sunset, very low on the horizon to the southwest.
The comet will be directly below Venus about 30 minutes after sunset on December 17th.
This will be the LAST time anyone will be able to see Comet Leonard as it takes about 80,000 years for it to complete its orbit around the sun. For perspective, it’s been inside the orbit of Neptune over the last 12 years.
After its orbit of Earth, it’s on to Venus as it will pass 2.6 million miles from the planet (which is close via space terms) before heading deep into space.
More info about ‘Christmas Comet Leonard’ can be found here.
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