Comet Leonard to get closest to Earth on December 13; Check details about its visibility

Comet Leonard, which was discovered earlier this year, is getting closer to the Earth and the timing cannot be much better to track the incoming ice ball. The comet, which is formally called C/2021 A1, is expected to be at its brightest starting early December and stargazers can get a glimpse of its glow till early January, when it will get closest to the sun. Currently, the comet is majorly cruising through the morning sky but can soon be spotted in the evening sky.

Comet discovery in the time of pandemic...

The comet was discovered on January 3, 2021, when astronomer Greg Leonard spotted it while working at the Mount Lemmon Observatory. Exactly one year later, the comet will now be at its brightest on January 3 in 2022, when it will race past the sun from a distance of 90 million kilometres. It was being speculated that comet Leonard, which is moving at a speed of 254,412 kilometres per hour, might be the brightest and most special comet at the end of this year, as per EarthSky.

On another interesting note, comet Leonard is also this year's first long-period comet which has an 80,000-year orbit. According to Phys.Org, December 8 is the day when our planet would be crossing the comet's orbital plane, however, it will get closest to our planet on December 13.

How can you spot comet Leonard?

Although comet Leonard will get close to the Earth in mid-December, it will still be around 34 million kilometres far from our planet. Spotting the icy body with naked eyes will be fairly difficult owing to the distance and those with telescopes will also have to put some effort into tracking the faint glow of comet Leonard's tail. Currently, it is visible in the northern hemispheres but people will be able to spot it in the southern hemispheres from December to January. Spotting the comet will surely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience as the comet takes thousands of years to complete one orbit considering the fact that its farthest distance from the sun (aphelion) is 3,500 times the distance between our planet and the sun. Several netizens, who were lucky enough to spot the comet have shared pictures of the phenomenon. Take a look.

Image: Twitter/@jaume_zapata