“He can’t be seen with his eyes, he can be seen in binoculars. In addition, it is necessary to have a dark sky. And if you want to see a comet with its tail, you still need a telescope with a diameter of ten centimeters and bigger, “Suchan explained.
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He reminded, however, that there is still a chance that humans will see the comet with the naked eye. “With comets, it can really change dramatically,” he said.
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“It is possible that in the very dark sky it could be seen faintly with the naked eye this week. A small binocular will offer a very nice view, but it is impressive in a large telescope, ”described the astronomer and photographer Martin Gembec on the ČAS website.
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The comet must be sought in the morning sky. “Even in the evening, the evening is less than five degrees above the horizon. The height of the comet at the beginning of astronomical twilight is still a nice 40 ° on Monday, December 6, but for example on Friday, December 10 it will be only half and on Sunday morning we have to reckon with it, it will be only about 10 ° high at dawn, “continued Gembec .
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Comet C / 2021 A1 (Leonard): location December 6-12 at 6 am
Photo: Astro.cz/Stellarium/Martin Gembec
Gembec also noted that Comet Leonard recently appeared to have passed in the sky around the globular cluster M3, as shown in the opening photo of this article.
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“It was a breathtaking view of a solar system object ‘only’ 66.7 million km away, whose weak head and tail stretched in the field of view of the eyepiece along the star cluster 34,000 light-years away,” he added.
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On Sunday, only 35 million kilometers away
Comet C / 2021 A1 (Leonard) was discovered by American researcher Gregory Leonard on January 3 this year at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona. While at the time of the discovery it was 737.5 million kilometers from Earth, on December 12 it will approach only 34.9 million km.
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The comet makes its closest approach to the Sun on January 3, 2022, at a distance of 92 million kilometers from our star. According to scientists, the comet probably made one orbit around the Sun in the distant past.
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The orbit of Comet Leonard in the solar system
Foto: Catalina Sky Survey
