The magnificent comet Leonard is moving away from us: here are the latest photos

This Monday, January 3, 2022, one year after its discovery by Gregory J. Leonard, the comet C / 2021 A1 (Leonard) who gate henceforth his name has passed to perihelion, the point of his orbit closest to the Sun. At a distance of 0.61 UA (61% of the Earth-Sun distance), or some 91 million kilometers. We cannot say that it is a grazing comet (sungrazer comet), as we have seen hundreds on images of Soho in nearly three decades. It remains very far from our Star, but obviously for this small body of ice which has traveled for thousands of years in the frozen confines of the Solar system, it is now very hot, and it shows, as evidenced by the superb images of the last days taken by astrophotographers.

Comet Leonard is still visible to the naked eye

Followed day by day by passionate and experienced astrophotographers, Comet Leonard puts on a show for their greatest joy, and ours. It’s been a month since these astronomers amateur comet hunters delight us with their daily photos of thestar in full effervescence taken for some to the bass latitudes north, for others from the southern hemisphere (sometimes at a distance via telescopes installed in Namibia).

Located today more than 137 million kilometers from Earth, Comet Leonard is still visible in theeye naked, displaying a magnitude 5, for privileged observers of thesouthern hemisphere. Remember that this is the last time that it passes near the Earth and the Sun, because its trajectory leads it towards theinterstellar space and other suns.

In this selection of the latest photos of Comet Leonard, I let you admire the disturbances in its very long tail braided with dozens of gaseous threads and dust. A dizzying spectacle of beauty that we never tire of.

The “Christmas comet” puts on a show

Article by Xavier Demeersman published on December 26, 2021

As always, comets are full of surprises and unpredictable. Comet Leonard is no exception. Here are the most beautiful photos of his recent convulsions, observed since December 20.

It is not yet too late to observe C / 2021 A1 (Leonard) a.k.a Comet Leonard, this year’s brightest.

Passed near Earth on December 12, and very close to Venus on the 17th, it now continues its ride towards the Sun whose perihelion – the point of its orbit closest to the stellar focus – will be January 3, 2022 (one year after its discovery).

Burst of activity for comet Leonard

Over the past two days, observers around the world have reported a significant increase in its brightness, linked to a sudden burst of activity. The star of diffuse appearance was easily discernible in dusk, not far from Venus.

Traveling in the hottest region of the Solar System, it’s normal for its ices to sublimate, spilling in its wake gas and dust trapped there. Weakened, some blocks or cliffs on the lumpy core can suddenly collapse, and cause eruptions visible from Earth. Under the shock of temperatures and solar wind, the star can also be dislocated.

Astrophotographers who, for some, have been following his wanderings in the terrestrial sky for months, the spectacle was incredible, as evidenced by the images they published on the social networks. The comet has hair in the wind, in the solar wind, therefore the opposite of our Star. In some photos, it evokes the astonished mane of Lion with long tentacles undulating in space, and which is none other than the mark of recent disturbances.