![]() ![]() This light curve chart lays out three possible scenarios for Comet Leonard. If its dust production rate climbs in the coming weeks as the comet approaches the Sun and becomes more active, two special circumstances - an orbital plane crossing and a high phase angle - may boost its brightness above predictions. Right now, Leonard sports a small but lush dust tail. Powering across Sagittarius and Microscopium, it ends the year at 6th magnitude in Piscis Austrinus. Meanwhile, conditions improve for Southern Hemisphere skywatchers as the comet's solar elongation increases. Fortunately, the Moon will be absent throughout the best part of its morning apparition.įrom mid-December onward, Comet Leonard fades while remaining stubbornly low in the southwestern sky at dusk for mid-northern observers. Observers may get their last peek at Leonard steeped in morning twilight on December 12th - and near peak brightness - before it transitions into the evening sky. In another image taken on October 10, 2021, Comet Leonard glowed at magnitude 12.3 with a 3.8′-diameter coma and 5′ tail pointed in PA 340–330°. Having Arcturus nearby will make it easy for less experienced observers to find and follow the comet. Early in the month it should hover near magnitude 5.5 and become a faint naked-eye object. Leonard passes about 1.5° west of the bright globular cluster M3 on December 2nd and about 1° to its east on the 3rd, then dashes some 5° north of Arcturus on the 6th. At month's end it should be easily visible in 50-mm binoculars around 7th magnitude. By mid-November the comet may reach magnitude 10, putting it within range of a 6-inch telescope. It slowly heads east, crossing into Canes Venatici on November 11th and Coma Berenices later that month, while continuing to brighten. In mid-October, the comet glows around magnitude 12 in southern Ursa Major and stands almost 30° high at the start of morning twilight for observers at mid-northern latitudes. Brighter stars are labeled with magnitudes with decimals omitted. This map plots Comet Leonard during its slow trek across southern Ursa Major near the 5th-magnitude star 61 Ursae Majoris (61 UMa in the finder map here) nightly through October 29th. This year has seen a dearth of naked-eye objects, the reason so many of us are looking forward to Comet Leonard, which may top out at magnitude 4 or brighter come December. Last year, Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) blossomed into a magnificent sight, becoming the brightest comet to decorate the sky since McNaught (C/2006 P1) in 2007. Pre-baked as it were, Comet Leonard's brightness predictions may be more reliable. Often, these early outbursts simply fizzle out, and a lackluster apparition follows. This can artificially inflate their predicted brightness during solar approach and lead to unrealistic expectations. First-time comets often become unusually bright even at great distances as fresh ice sublimates in a frenzy. That trip and perhaps others in the remote past allowed its most volatile ices to vaporize. It's good news that Comet Leonard's been around the block before. Only its volatile surface ices sublimated, which led to a temporary surge that fanned unrealistic expectations. It turned out that the comet was "new," never having passed near the Sun before. Comet Kohoutek (C/1973 E1) brightened rapidly at a great distance, leading some astronomers to predict it would become a spectacular sight in January 1974. ![]()
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