Posted on 12/12/2021 2:21:13 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Comet Leonard is now visible to the unaided eye -- but just barely. Passing nearest to the Earth today, the comet is best seen this week soon after sunset, toward the west, low on the horizon. Currently best visible in the north, by late December the comet will best be seen from south of Earth's equator. The featured image of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was taken a week ago from California, USA. The deep exposure shows in great detail the comet's green gas coma and developing dust tail. The comet -- across our inner Solar System and only light-minutes away -- was captured passing nearly in front of globular star cluster M3. In contrast, M3 is about 35,000 light-years away. In a week, Comet Leonard will pass unusually close to Venus, but will continue on and be at its closest to the Sun in early January.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
I just went out and tried to see it, no dice. Too many trees in the way. But Jupiter and Venus are incredibly bright!
The writer left out the constellation, a real no-no in good astronomy writing.
LOL, that was what I was looking for, and when I couldn’t find it, I assumed they included it in some kind of way that wasn’t obvious to me!
Twinkle,twinkle little star, where the hell are you?
Wow, if you could see it like that with the naked eye
that would be something!
Clicking on “Tails” you get a beautiful picture of Comet Neowise, red, blue, and white! Excellent!
Yes, that was a great photo at the link!
At the time of the photo, it was in Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs. Since then it has passed through several constellations. As I write it is in Ophiuschus, soon it will be in Serpens Cauda.
Best to check a finder chart on a night by night basis. Comets don’t stay put, that’s how Charles Messier used to tell if they were comets or something that belonged on his list of things that aren’t comets: If he looked back the next night and it wasn’t someplace else, it wasn’t a comet.
Pawsome! And some interesting information about why comets appear green.
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