Comet Leonard is about to pass closer to Earth – Yahoo News

Already nicknamed the Christmas comet, the small, rocky, icy body should be visible to the naked eye in the days, if not hours, to come.

Now is the time to roll our eyes. Especially if you have a good pair of binoculars. Discovered on January 3, 2021 using the 1.5-meter telescope of Mount Lemmon Survey in Arizona (United States), comet C / 2021 A1, named after the surname of its discoverer Greg Leonard, will pass as close as possible to the Earth this Sunday, December 12. This small rocky and icy body will then be a little more than 35 million kilometers from our planet, in the constellation of the Snake – more precisely in that of the Serpentarius (or Ophiucus) which tames it – from the constellation of Bouvier.

Movement of comet C / 2021 A1 Leonard in the sky, during the first half of December.
© IMCCE – Paris Observatory – PSL

Expected as the astronomical spectacle of these end-of-year celebrations, Comet Leonard, whose magnitude was only 19, less bright than Pluto, last January, has now reached magnitude 6, or roughly the one from which celestial objects become visible to the naked eye. By way of comparison, the magnitude of the full moon is around – 12 and that of the Sun close to – 27. As for comet Neowise, passed close to Earth in the summer of 2020 and which had also reached the threshold of magnitude 6, it had been clearly visible to the naked eye, including from the Paris region.

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Already nicknamed the Christmas comet, the small, rocky, icy body should be visible to the naked eye in the days, if not hours, to come.

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