Comet Leonard may soon be seen with the naked eye

Comet Leonard is getting brighter every day

Around December 12, when the comet is closest to us, Leonard will be at its brightest: 4. till love the clear shine Astronomers predict that it can achieve this. It will be as bright as a faint star, but visible to the naked eye. Nevertheless, you should always look for the Tail Star with binoculars, then it can look really beautiful. It remains a muddy place to the naked eye. Currently (December 2) Leonard can already be seen in binoculars, with an apparent brightness of about 7 Mag (the lower the number, the brighter the object).

In the case of comets, however, changes in brightness are always only rough approximations. It is possible that Comet Leonard Gets significantly brighter, falls short of expectations or explodes already.

When and where can comets be best seen?

Unfortunately, Leonard is at the same time more and more hostile to our point of view. The comet rises later and later in the northeast. From midnight to the beginning of the month, its rise is delayed by about an hour every morning, and is later delayed by half an hour every day. Comet Leonard will be visible in the northeast before 2 a.m. on December 7 and before 4 a.m. by December 10. An hour after its rise, the comet pops out of the haze on the horizon and is visible to the east. The first breaks around six in December dawn After that, it will soon be too bright to see the soft comedic light. Unfortunately, on December 12, when Leonard is closest to us, he doesn’t wake up until 6.15am and is visible only when the sky has already become brighter. sunrise But it’s eight o’clock now.

Drama in a nutshell: Comet Leonard is getting brighter every day, but is also visible and less so later every day. So you need a vantage point with a clear view of the horizon in the east, away from any light sources and as free as possible light pollution, And of course a cloudless sky.

Good news: At least the Moon won’t interfere with observations: Ami 4th of December is AmavasyaThen the moon appears only in the evening sky, the morning sky is free from the moon.

Bright Star Arctur Helps Find Comet

Comet C/2021 A1 Leonard circles the constellations on its fast journey around the Sun. In the first half of December that constellation moves from Bear Guardian to Serpent and Serpent Bearer. On December 6, that bear is very close to the Guardian’s brightest star, Arctur. Arcturus is very noticeable because it is the second brightest star that can be seen with us. And it’s easy to find it by star hopping if you can Big Dipper Constellation (Great Bear) Find out: If you raise its sloppy drawbar, you’ll meet Arctur.