Zetongifts – This year’s title ” Comet Christmas Whether for comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) or comet Leonard, was discovered on January 3 by American astronomer Gregory J. Leonard for the Mount Lemmon Observatory in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona.
The comet’s trajectory close to the sun is expected to occur on January 3, 2022, perigee, the closest point to the earth will be reached on December 12. Do you know when his journey started? 35,000 years ago, witnessing his journey would have been a unique event!
Christmas Comet in December
Currently, as astrophysicist Gianluca Masi , scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project , points out, the visibility of the “Christmas comet” is unpredictable. It is not yet known if or how it will be visible to the naked eye, but there is a possibility that should not be underestimated.
December 12 will reach the minimum distance from our planet, equal to about 35 million kilometers, but only 10 ° above the horizon, so we need not only very dark skies, but also without natural and / or artificial. resistance. Ideally, you should go to a big hill/mountain meadow or a dark beach.
The “Christmas Comet” will be visible until Christmas and then disappear from view forever. The hope is that its increased brightness will allow everyone to observe it even with the naked eye, as happened to last year’s comet.