Astronomers have discovered the brightest comet of 2021
In December 2021, a comet will approach the Earth, which will be visible to the naked eye – it will be so bright. The comet, registered as C/2021 A1 (Leonard), was the first to be discovered by astronomers in 2021. It was discovered on January 3 thanks to images obtained by the one-and-a-half-meter telescope-reflector of the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona, USA. On December 18, 2021, the comet will pass within 0.0283 astronomical units of Venus. Scientists note that in the entire history of astronomical observations, only five comets approached the Earth closer than 4.2 million km. In the images, it has a gas-dust coma with a diameter of up to 10 arcseconds and a short dust tail with a length of up to 5 arcseconds. It moves in a very elongated elliptical orbit. During its approach to Earth, the comet will reach a maximum brightness of about +4 stellar magnitudes. In the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, it can be seen from September. The comet will move slowly against the background of the Great Bear, Hunting Dogs and Berenice’s Hair constellations. However, from the end of November, as the comet approaches the Earth, its speed will increase. It will be possible to see its maximum brightness only from December 1 to 13 against the background of the Volopas, Serpent, Hercules and Ophiuchus constellations, after which it will move to the sky of the Southern Hemisphere, RIA Novosti reports.
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