Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) (Molly Wakeling)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Boötes (Boo) · Contains: Solar system body or event

Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard), Molly Wakeling

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Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)

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Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)

Finally caught Comet Leonard! I missed it as it went by globular cluster M3 the other night due to clouds, and even though clouds were forecasted for the latter half of last night, they weren't as bad as predicted and I got a few images!

Comet Leonard was discovered by Greg Leonard at the University of Arizona with the Catalina Sky Survey in early 2021. It's currently heading toward perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on Jan 3 after having traveled 3,500 AU (Earth-Sun distance) over the last 35,000 years to get into the inner solar system.
It's pretty bright right now -- accessible with binoculars! It probably won't become naked-eye bright, but there's still time. It's currently located in the constellation Bootes, near the bright star Arcturus as it rises in the east in the early morning hours.

If you look carefully, off on the right of the image is a dim smudge (not the bright one, but below it). This is galaxy NGC 5523, which is 70 million lightyears away.

Broadband under Bortle 7/8/9
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Status	Advanced failed
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	5292263
PixInsight job	1JVYZTXTJ8GRWH6BVNV4D3BO976K93M3
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	PLATE_SOLVING_IMAGE

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Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)

Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard)

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