Comet Leonard, discovered by astronomer Gregory Leonard on January 3 last year, has broken up into smaller pieces according to a recent report. The disintegration is said to have occurred in late February after the comet’s perihelion, or closest approach to the sun on January 2, 2022. In an email, Leonard of the Catalina Sky Survey revealed to EarthSky, “It is now moving away from the sun and has not only faded, but is now gone. most importantly it has two parts: the nucleus (the nucleus) and the coma (the mysterious envelope surrounding the nucleus, which appears when a comet passes close to the Sun).
In particular, Comet Leonard made its closest approach to Earth on December 12 and became a hot topic of discussion for being the brightest comet of 2021. A handful of expert astrophotographers. , especially after December 19, 2021, when the comet begins to experience strong periodic explosive activity,” Leonard told EarthSky.
The comet’s disintegration was confirmed after astronomers noticed fluctuations in its brightness every three to five days along with structural changes in its tail. It was February 23, when astronomer Martin Masek of the Institute of Physics at the Czech Academy of Sciences noticed that Comet Leonard had become a faint line of space and was only visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
More on Comet Leonard
The comet is said to have orbited the sun for 80,000 years, however, the icy object would not exist to complete another revolution. When Leonard approaches his closest point to Earth, it is about 34 million kilometers away and traveling at 2,54,412 kilometers per hour. The discovery of Comet Leonard is said to be a once-in-a-lifetime experiment in which it takes thousands of years to complete one orbit. Surprisingly, its furthest distance from the sun (aphelion) is 3,500 times the distance between our planet and the sun.
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