Comet Leonard is the shiny comet of 2021 and over the last workweek or so has become visible to the naked eye . This week the comet has start out to seem at crepuscule , promising enough to be seen clear with binoculars by exquisite skywatchers . But be agile , this is your last chance to spot the Christmas cosmic visitor before it disappears from vista .
Afterinitial concernthat it was fading too shortly , cursory and professional percipient have report seeing Leonard clearly , with some spectacular photographs to testify it .
The comet , technically called C/2021 A1 was first discovered by astronomer G. J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory on January 3 , 2021 , precisely a year before the comet ’s scheduled closet passage near the Sun . It made its closest pass to our planet on December 12 , when it flew 34.9 million kilometer ( 21.7 million sea mile ) from Earth .
It ’s currently at its brightest , even though it ’s now heading away from us . To distinguish it , the comet " will seem very low above the horizon just after sunset,“accordingto Leonard , who works at the University of Arizona . " It will skim across the west - southwestern horizon between now up until around Christmastime . "
On December 17 , the comet will pass very close to Venus ( which will be the bright target in the sky facing west ) , take a leak it light to spot .
" The fact that it ’s so close to the horizon makes this comet a mo ambitious to observe , " Leonard cautioned . However , " I experience there is going to be something to be check even for the effortless observer , " he added . " Find yourself a morose sky with a undecomposed view of the horizon , bring binoculars and I think you may be rewarded . "
Before passing near the Sun in January and starting its long journey out of the Solar System , Comet Leonard will pass just 4.2 million kilometer ( 2.6 million miles ) from Venus . This is the closest known passage between a comet and Venus and astronomers believe that there ’s achance the comet could make a meteoroid showeron the second inmost major planet .
" There is a small prospect Venus will pass close enough to the comet ’s path where it may pick up some junk grains in its atmosphere , producing a shooting star rain shower on our neighboring major planet , " Leonard explained .
If your location or weather is not conducive to comet detection , however , you could console yourself with some awful footage snap by China ’s commercial optic astronomic satellite , Yangwang(仰望)-1 .
