Most comets are brightest when they are close to the Sun, just when they are most difficult for us to detect. However, although comet C / 2021 A1 (Leonard) is no exception, it may be visible with small telescopes and binoculars and who knows if with the naked eye in the sky (before sunrise)
It was astronomer Gregory J. Leonard who discovered the comet that now bears his name on January 3, 2021 at the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, located in the Santa Catalina Mountains.
A comet before Christmas
As we say, the comet is not yet bright enough to see with the naked eye, but it is visible with binoculars, and it has also grown a small tail. It is bright enough to be photographed with a DSLR camera even with short, unguided exposures.
The comet is currently heading toward the Sun, toward its perihelion (the closest point to the sun) on January 3, 2022. Comets tend to be brightest around perihelion. It will be the best comet we can see in all of 2021.
On December 12 it will pass more than 34 million kilometers away. But six days later, on December 18, the comet will pass exceptionally close to Venus for only 4.2 million kilometers. It will then orbit the sun on January 3, 2022, at a distance of about 0.6 astronomical units, or 90 million km.
Without a doubt, it is a comet that is worth observing, because every 80,000 years, this comet passes through the orbit of the Earth and we will be lucky to see it in 2021. It is an astronomical object formed by dust, ice and rocks, of long period, that is, it comes from the Oort cloud, hence its orbit of approximately 80,000 years.
The ice ball is on the home stretch of what will likely be its last visit to the Sun , and its conglomerate of icy gases such as methane, ammonia and water vapor are reacting to the increasing heat of our fiery star.
How to locate it?
Comet Leonard’s brightness should increase noticeably as it approaches Earth. The comet’s magnitude is expected to be +5.5; bright enough to be glimpsed without any optical aid in a dark sky free from light pollution.
If you want to test its observation with the naked eye (best between December 12 and 14), if the sky you contemplate is clear, try after sunset on those nights : Comet Leonard will be low in the sky, at to the right of the planet Venus, which is currently a bright “evening star” that glows at twilight.
This comet is initially in the skies of the northern hemisphere, but will be visible from the southern hemisphere in December 2021 and January 2022. And remember the most important thing: a dark sky.
