Meet the Christmas Comet C/2021 (A1) Leonard as captured on 4 December, 2021. Comet Leonard was discovered on 3 January 2021 by Greg. J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory. Currently, Comet Leonard is said to be located some 21 millions miles away from Earth and is zipping through the sky at a speed of around 44 miles per secs. For the enthusiasts who have missed it this trip around, you can gear up for the next projected viewing in about 80,000 years… say what now! 😉 In the meantime, continue to look up and experience an amazing Universe!
The short video clip shows the movement of Comet Leonard on 4 December, 2021 taken every 3 mins for a one-hour period. The comet zipped through the constellation of Hercules. The bright “star” to the left of the comet is Hercules Globular Cluster (M3). The video demonstrates the movement of the comet relative to the surrounding stars.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbzq7unrxy6secy/Comet%20Leonard.mp4?dl=0
Nice!
With our cloudy weather and light pollution I never did go out to actually see if I could see it with binoculars. We did get a pretty good view of I believe it was comet Hyakutake, that passed by in 1996. Observed visually with my 6-in, but also took some non-guided pictures with a Canon SLR, a large 100 mm lens, and fast film. Those pics turned out pretty good. I have a feeling I have those in a box somewhere also.
I really like comments. I remember seeing some that were really bright visually when I was a child which would have been in the 50s or 60s and living in the northern latitudes. I can’t remember if one of those might have been Halley, but I definitely bright and visible to the naked eye!
Cheers!