I arose early again this morning (Wednesday, December 1) and spotted Comet Leonard for the first time, using my 10x70 binoculars. The comet was definitely fainter than the 6.2-mag. globular cluster M3, perhaps by nearly a magnitude. The difference in my result from yesterday morning when I didn't find the comet, and today, was that yesterday morning I was expecting the comet to be much brighter than it turned out to be, so I didn't prepare myself well by carefully mapping out a star hop to the comet. This time I did, determining in advance the length of each step of the star hop, Arcturus to d Bootis to 9 Bootis to M3 to the comet. (The fainter stars are both labeled on Chart 44 of the Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas. You can use the degree scale on the inside front cover to measure the angular distances between stars on your star hop.) There are also finder charts in the December issue of Sky & Telescope, but the fainter stars are not shown as well, nor are they labeled.
After finding the comet, I used the 10x70s for a quick tour of favorite deep sky objects, M42, M44, M38, M36, M37, M35. The Pleiades M45 were hidden behind mountains to my west, but Aldebaran and part of the Hyades star cluster still were visible.
It seemed much warmer here this morning, in the 60's, than on Tuesday morning. The temperature reached 91 degrees here on Tuesday afternoon. On Sunday, the morning low was in the 40's.
On Thursday and Friday mornings, Dec. 2 and 3, the comet will be in the same binocular field as M3. If the sky is again clear, I expect to bring out my 6-inch Orion SkyQuest Dobsonian for a closer look. I expect that my lowest magnification, using a 32-mm Plossl eyepiece giving 37x, will provide the best view.
Don't forget to look for Mars at the end of your morning sessions, at least through binoculars. Almost exactly one year from now, Mars will be at its closest approach for the current apparition, and will outshine Sirius. Quite a change!
Wishing you clear skies!
Bob V.
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2021’s best comet
A much-anticipated comet – C/2021 A1 (Leonard) – is likely to be 2021’s best comet, and its brightest comet by year’s end. Astronomer Greg Leonard discovered the comet as 2021 began. Discovery images showed a tail for the comet, suggesting we might see a nice tail as Comet Leonard draws closer to the Earth and sun. And telescopic observers and astrophotographers do now see a tail, as photos on this page show. The comet is currently heading sunward, toward its perihelion (closest point to the sun) on January 3, 2022. Comets are typically brightest around perihelion. Comet Leonard has been in the morning sky, but, in December, it will become visible in the evening sky. All in all, it’s time to look for a comet!
Over the coming month, as Comet Leonard heads sunward, it’ll sweep closest to Earth on December 12. It won’t be particularly close at its closest, passing more than 21 million miles (34 million km) away. But six days later – on December 18 – the comet will have an exceptionally close pass of Venus of just 2.6 million miles (4.2 million km). Then it’ll round the sun on January 3, 2022, at a distance of about 56 million miles (0.6 AU, or 90 million km).
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