This image shows comet Leonard streaming through the sky on the morning of December 7, 2021, taken by ESAs Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), part of the Agencys Planetary Defence Office, using the Calar Alto Schmidt telescope in Spain. Credit: ESA/NEOCC
Not rather a Christmas wonder, nor the star of Bethlehem: comet Leonard is a rather normal comet going about its normal course around the Sun. However, it may end up being visible to the naked eye around its close approach on December 12– a reward for those who identify it, but it gets a “yawn” (luckily) from ESAs Planetary Defence Office.
Get out of the city if youre in one, search for, and youre likely to see sporadic shooting stars ripping with speed through the environment. Less typical, but not completely uncommon, are remote, apparently slow-moving comets, in some cases noticeable to the naked eye.
This genuine color image reveals comet Leonard streaming through the sky on the early morning of December 7, 2021, taken by ESAs Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), part of the Agencys Planetary Defence Office, using the Calar Alto Schmidt telescope in Spain.
Comet Leonards orbital trajectory sees it get close to the Sun prior to whizzing out once again to the outer Solar System. Credit: ESA
By superimposing a stack of 90 images each five seconds long, the comet is revealed whooshing past background stars which appear here as vibrant streaks going from green to red to blue– colors picked to signify the three various filters utilized to observe Leonard.
Around the comets bright nucleus, these colors come together to develop a brilliant white radiance of the nucleus, while the green-bluish shade around it is true-to-life, the typical color released by comets due to their chemical structure.
Near-Earth comet? Not even close
Comet Leonard was taking a trip about 47 kilometers per second in its orbit around the Sun when imaged here on December 7. On December 12 at 13:52 UTC, it will make its closest approach to Earth throughout this rotation, still an enormous 35 million kilometers away.
Meteor shower. Credit: Night Sky Nation
Presently, we understand of 3775 comets in the Solar System. These little bodies are believed to be icy leftovers from the early stages of the forming of the outer planets. Orbiting the Sun, they edge towards the inner Solar System, emitting particles and gasses when heated up by solar radiation producing their particular tail, then going back to the more reaches of about 50 000 times the range of Earth from the Sun.
Interestingly, these long tails remain in place even when the comet has moved on. It is when Earth sporadically goes through the old path of ancient comets that meteor showers take place, a lovely, safe pointer of Earths fragility in the Solar System.
In some cases, a comets orbit will see it edge near to Earth. Near-Earth Comets (NECs) are defined as those finishing a complete revolution of the Sun within 200 years, with a closest distance to the Sun within 1.3 Astronomical Units– the range between the Sun and Earth.
Such comets are kept under the close careful eye of ESAs NEOCC, because, like asteroids, any strike with Earth might have an extremely harmful effect. Fortunately, such comets are unusual– with just 100 known at present and simply a couple of included to the books each year.
Distinct? Not truly. Pretty? Extremely.
While not lots of individuals will have witnessed a comet appear in the sky, comet Leonard is not particularly distinct. In fact, its rather typical:
” This is a bright-ish comet that we see in the skies on average as soon as each year. As it gets a little closer, it could end up being noticeable to the naked eye, making for some appealing photos, but, for us worried with things that might pose a risk to Earth, this comet is fortunately rather unspectacular,” discusses Marco Micheli, Astronomer in ESAs Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre.
Perseid meteor shower. Credit: ESA
For everybody else, it will deserve inspecting the skies for this icy passer-by in the days after its close approach on December 12 (at its closest it wont be noticeable as it will be too close to the glaring Sun).
In a cosmic coincidence, this same period will be ideal for identifying shooting stars as, peaking around December 13-14, will be the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminids are among just two meteor showers happening due to Earth going through the tail of an asteroid– (3200) Phaethon– instead of a comet.
Presently, we know of 3775 comets in the Solar System. These little bodies are thought to be icy leftovers from the early stages of the forming of the external worlds. Orbiting the Sun, they edge towards the inner Solar System, emitting particles and gasses when warmed by solar radiation producing their particular tail, then returning to the additional reaches of about 50 000 times the range of Earth from the Sun.
Unique? Not really.