Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard photographed from Indiana on Nov. 28.
Paul Macklin/Spaceweathergallery.com
After several months of anticipation, the most promising comet for skywatchers this year is finally drawing closer and more visible.
At the beginning of 2021, researcher Greg Leonard discovered Comet C/2021 A1, now better known as Comet Leonard. At the time it was heading in our direction from deep space with the potential to be the brightest comet of the year.
No other superstar comets with the ability to outshine Leonard have emerged just yet, so it looks as if luminous Lenny will fulfill its potential in the coming month.
“There are chances to easily see this comet by naked eye, even if under less than optimal conditions,” writes astronomer Gianluca Masi with the Virtual Telescope Project, based in Italy.
Of course, comets are infamously fickle about their plans and can disintegrate to almost nothing at just about any time as they draw closer to the sun.
But if Leonard survives to live up to astronomers’ most optimistic predictions, the big space snowball will pass near Earth in December when it may be visible with binoculars or possibly even without them. From there it makes a close pass by the sun and heads back out to deep space in January.
A number of astrophotographers have already managed to snap some pretty impressive shots of Leonard sporting a green coma with spiffy extended tail.
Leonard likely won’t be possible to see without lenses until at least the middle of December, but you may be able to catch it with binoculars already. For the next few weeks, it’s visible primarily in the early morning hours before sunrise. As the year starts to wind down, it can be spotted in evening skies.
To see what has at least a chance of being a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event, I recommend putting your location into a tracking app or website like TheSkyLive to get the best times and which direction to look. For folks in North America like me, mark your calendars for December 14, which is right after the comet passes by Earth and when it will become visible just above the horizon after sunset for many viewers.
While we can’t say for sure what kind of show Leonard will put on just yet, we do know that this will be our only chance to see it close-up: Its journey from deep space to come this far is estimated to have taken about 35,000 years.