#Comet leonard stellarium Patch#

“That is strictly coincidental, but I like coincidence,” comet discoverer Gregory Leonard, a senior research specialist at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, told in December.With comet C/2014 E2 Jacques currently making an impressive tour through part of our milky way it is passing some very interesting objects.

NASA notes that Leonard made a 40,000-year journey to our sun from the outer solar system, but the comet was only discovered on January 3rd, 2021 – just one year before the perihelion. But even if the comet survives the journey, NASA said in a statement, “its trajectory will fling it into interstellar space, never to return.” So like many other comets making that close swing by the sun, there’s a risk Leonard may fall apart. Leonard will have to survive the sun’s intense gravitational force at that distance, along with the solar wind. The comet will approach our sun at a distance of roughly 56 million miles (90 million kilometers), which is about half that of Earth’s distance to the sun. But Leonard’s journey will be a much more of a close approach than that of the Earth’s. Leonard’s perihelion - or closest approach to the sun in its orbit - coincidentally takes place just hours before Earth’s own perihelion on Tuesday, January 4th, at 12:52 AM AST (0652 GMT). Leonard’s Last HurrahĬomet Leonard, known as comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard), will reach perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on January 4th, 2022. (Image credit: NASA/JPL) Once it rounds the sun, it will be thrown out of the solar system into a slightly hyperbolic orbit, never to be seen again. A small telescope will accentuate the view of the comet’s gaseous head (called the coma) and its tail.Ĭomet Leonard will likely begin to fade and will gradually be lost to view after tonight, reaching its closest point to the sun at a distance of 57.2 million miles (92 million km). If you cannot visually see the comet with your eyes, scan the region of the sky below Venus with binoculars.

#Comet leonard stellarium Patch#

What you will be looking for is not a sharp pinpoint of light like a star, but a small fuzzy patch of light, perhaps with a semblance of a short tail pointing almost straight up from the patch in the general direction of Venus. First, locate Venus, then check out the region of the sky below it and see if you can spy the comet. We suggest you wait until at least an hour after sunset to hunt for Comet Leonard.

Where to look?Ĭomet C/2021 A1 Leonard was captured on December 27th, 2021, in the western skies of Trinidad and Tobago (Image: Isa Mohammed) The comet passed closest to Earth on Monday at a distance of 21.7 million miles (34.9 million km) and now shines at magnitude +3.9 - a more than nine-fold increase in brightness since the start of the month, placing it readily within range of naked-eye viewers. Over the past couple of weeks, as Comet Leonard approached both the sun and Earth, it has brightened rapidly. However, those with less-than-perfect viewing conditions could readily sight the comet with the aid of binoculars and a knowledge of where precisely to look using a good star chart. A magnitude of +6.3 would make Comet Leonard just bright enough to be visible with the unaided eye by sharp-eyed observers under pristinely dark skies.

This value is based on an average of dozens of reports worldwide posted on the Comet Observation Database. When December began, Comet Leonard’s brightness was hovering at around magnitude +6.3 on the brightness scale used by astronomers. Still, the undulating tendrils of the tail show up in the image. In all, this is just over 10 minutes of data. This image was taken on December 30th, 2021, in Trinidad and Tobago and represented just a handful of exposures before the comet dipped below a poorly positioned tree. Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard continues to make a fine photographic target in the western sky shortly after sunset.