Comet Leonard downunder...?

[Graman]

Hi all,

Just came across Comet Leonard which is coming close to Earth and going around the Sun during Christmas period.

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/comet-leonard-might-become-2021s-brightest-2022/

I couldn't find much info on whether it will be visible from Australia. Are you looking out for it? Any tips/suggestions? Would be a fun school holiday activity/project for my daughter!

Let me me know. Clear skies!

[rustigsmed]

Hi GR,

mid december onwards for southern hemishphere.
might get a look if it doesn't disintegrate.
more info below:

http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm

cheers

russ

[floyd_2]

Try this link to help you to find it:

https://theskylive.com/planetarium?objects=sun-moon-cometleonard-mercury-venus-mars-jupiter-saturn-uranus-neptune-pluto&localdata=-33.86785%7C151.20732%7CSydney+(AU)% 7CAustralia%2FSydney%7C0&obj=cometleonard&h=10&m=30&date=2021-12-31#ra|21.54330432229171|dec|-35.336493342835425|fov|57.5

You can play with the date / time / location etc

[Graman]

Thanks Dean, super helpful site! Looks like we should be able to catch a glimpse around Christmas time as long as the weather holds and we have a reasonably clear view of the horizon to the west...

Perfect opportunity to crack open a cold brew at sunset and do some comet "hunting" with my daughter....looking forward to it, much appreciated!

[rustigsmed]

Southern Comets on FB are stating reports coming in that it is in outburst @ 2nd magnitude. super low however.

[multiweb]

5 degrees here. I can see it behind Bunnings. :lol:

[Dave882]

Just hoping it holds together for a few more days so I can get a bit of a peak!

[Nab]

Just above the human made horizons for me at 9:20pm so fingers crossed!
D.

[Nab]

No luck at 9:40, sky still to light.

[doppler]

Couldn't make it out with bino's, but snapped a few shots with the camera. Here is a stack of 10 x 2 sec exposures at iso400 50mm lens, at 7.45 qld time.

[rustigsmed]

nice catch! :thumbsup:

[Hans Tucker]

Well the little tike has made APOD

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211215.html

[Saturnine]

Hopefully , over the next few days as it climbs higher in the twilight skies, it will retain its' brightness and will be easier to spot and photograph. Over the weekend when it is in proximity of Venus we will have some clear skies so we can enjoy the views. Reports say it is about mag. 3 presently.

[Graman]

This evening is forecast to be clear in Sydney...might be our best chance. Will have my binos cleaned and eyes peeled!

[Finbar]

My neighbour joined me on a dash from home (rural town) at 19:30 to try to catch a glimpse - about 19:40, at 11° alt, was pleasantly startled at how easy it was to find in the 10x42 binoculars, just north of two stars that turned out to be Namalsadirah III and IV. Much brighter than expected for the conditions, lurking just about a bank of clouds - which stole the view before I was able to direct the neighbour to see it in the binoculars. Now hoping for clearer view tomorrow evening when it will be mid way between Venus and M55.

[MortonH]

I could *just* detect it in my 72mm refractor at 18x before it sank into the murk. At least I think I could!

[Hans Tucker]

https://spaceweather.com/images2021/19dec21/skymap_19dec21_leonard.png

[AussieTrooper]

No good on the 16th as the sky was far too bright. Having to look over Melbourne CBD to see it doesn't help. Last night was cloudy. Will try again tonight.

[Hans Tucker]

Goodluck .. the cloud has congregated over the western horizon. Monday might be good.

[wayne anderson]

Viewing of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) on18th December at 7:45pm from Hervey Bay QLD

Under a 99% illuminated Moon it was not visible with the naked eye, however
using my old 8x56mm Tasco Titan Binoculars it was clearly visible.

With Venus at central Right side of field of view Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) was clearly visible at central Left side of field of view.

It appears to have a bright central core with a slightly fuzzy haze surrounding it, the Comet should be a great view as the moons phase shifts to new moon and it rises higher in the evening sky, looking forward to viewing it through the 12inch Meade LX200.

[doppler]

Might be a bit of action happening with the core? A quick grab between the clouds tonight with the 10" reflector.

[D44bond]

Just saw it tonight through 10x50 binos in rural Vic, around 9:40. It was clearly visible through the binos, but not naked eye yet. Not comet McNaught but still it was an amazing sight

[Graman]

No luck from suburban Sydney the last couple of nights. Fri evening was clear but still too bright due to late sunset and light pollution near the horizon looking out west. Can see the think sliver phase of Venus, but nothing else surrounding it…let alone Leonard.

Going down the coast on Christmas Eve, hope the sky conditions are better. But weather forecast doesn’t look promising…oh well…

[anj026]

Managed to catch it in the 6x30 binocular about 1945 yesterday evening. I'm north west WA at the moment. I reckon it was about 5 degrees to the left of Venus. Faint but definitely fuzzy. :)

[AussieTrooper]

I got a fleeting glance through binos at around 9:50pm. Haze affected, with the indicator stars above it also popping in and out of visibility.

[Finbar]

I’ve the advantage of being more northerly (-17.35°), but the disadvantage of tropics’ wet season clouds.

The neighbour and I headed out last night around 7:15 (8:15 in Southern Silly Time). There were patch of clear sky, each window growing shorter until about 8:00 we gave up.

This time we had 2 binoculars, 10x42 and 20x80 (bad chromatic aberration), and we both got to enjoy the view. The Terebellum asterism proved easier to use as a guide. In the 20x the core looked a bright fuzzy ball, surrounded by a bright haze ball, then hazy patch slightly extending right and up. In the 10x the core looked like a small star, so kore like a point, surrounded by the two layers of haze. I regretted not having taken the 105mm, but will take it with me on my overnight in Cairns to night. Just hope the clouds will be kinder.

Stellarium updated with this comet has been showing its position accurately. This evening it will be a little above star Terebellum IV.

Barry

Late addition: as others mentioned, even here we could not see it with naked eyes. Luna is just too bright, and revealed higher level wispy clouds.

[Finbar]

Well, clearest view so far, but over at 7:31 because hills are worse than clouds. Sky was still too bright, but my sister and nieces were delighted to be able to say they saw it, at 20x in CFF 105mm with 32mm plossl. Clear core, hazy short “tail”.

[Hans Tucker]

Elusive little thing. I tried finding it with 10x80 Bino's .. thought I had spotted it .. fading in an out. Might have to bring out the big guns tonight.

[doppler]

The comet appears to have had an outburst on the 18th, the coma is much denser on the 19th.

Both nights, 1 single exposure 5 sec each at iso 1600 canon 1100d and a 10"f4.8 newt. The lower image is from the 18th. The background is a bit darker on the 19th, the comet is higher in the sky

[Tropo-Bob]

I viewed the comet tonight with 8x30 binoculars and with 80 & 100mm scopes. The head was bright, and had plenty of coma around it. There was a faint tail heading off above.

I could glimpse it with the unaided eye, but it was faint and I would not have recognized it as being a comet. I estimated it to be Mag 5.3, which seems to actually be a good guess, despite flashing Xmas lights nearby.

It was to the south of Venus, but above Venus, so if One can see Venus then it will be possible for One to also find the comet.

The comet should be higher tmo, and the Moon will rise later.

[Finbar]

Nearly futile attempt to find clearer skies further west, but ran into smoke haze and thin clouds. Doubled back and found a less than ideal spot near Qld’s highest road, and waited for gaps in clouds. Didn’t bother putting up the scope, it was that bad.

It did appear, but never completely clear of thin cloud, and yet i can confirm that it was naked eye visible - just so without my glasses, but I knew exactly where to look. The view in the binoculars wasn’t as good as previous night, due to haze, the core reasonably bright, but barely anything of a tail at all. At least I got to follow it for longer this time. Interesting watching distance grow between it and nearest star, HIP 100196, below, when it poked through the haze; quite noticeable over only a 30 minute period.

Heading home now. Hope more of you south had better chance tonight with it at higher altitude.

Edit: binoculars were 10x42.

[Graman]

Been enjoying watching Comet Leonard for the past 45 min from Sydney. Spotted it first using my 7 x 50 binos. Got excited and set up 8 inch SCT. Views are pretty good today. Can push mags to 200x and can easily make out the core and the diffused tail.

Finally! Yeah…

[Dave882]

From suburban Sydney I managed to get a look tonight with the c8. Definitely not visible by naked eye with that much light pollution and haze but core and fat and rather squashed “tail” visible through the scope. It will be easier once it’s a little higher and not right over my neighbours hot roof

[Merlin66]

Managed to pick up Comet Leonard just before 10pm with the 10 x 50 Binos.
Obvious greenish hazy patch but no definite tail.
Not naked eye.

[Finbar]

Home again, and pleased to see more of you down south found it.

Appears my coastal neighbour Tropo-Bob and I were drafting reports at the same time.



Yes, it seems our northern positions aided, with sunset relatively earlier, hence both of us reported naked eye status of the core. In fact, each time I've be surprised by the size of the core, but I'm a newbie re comets. The MPC data imported into Stellarium suggests mag 4.87 reduced to 5.3, as Bob suggested, but to my eye the core was brighter than the Terebellum stars (4.4–4.8, reduced to 4.95–5.4), but like a star fuzzied by thin cloud. Tonight I could not make out the greenish tinge that was definitely there 2 and 3 nights ago.

Our forecasts are for steadily rising chance of rain and eventual storms, so I doubt I'll get any more opportunities. Wish I were in Winton at the moment.
Barry

[AussieTrooper]

You were correct Hans. It was quite clear last night, even with all the LP. I bit the bullet and bought new binos for it. Got the canon 15x50 image stabilised ones. They clearly showed the coma, though I couldn't see any of the tail.

[Hemi]

My 11 year old daughter and I had a nice look this evening. A teeny bit higher for us in Darwin. Nice display, with Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Mercury all lined up, and an almost equilateral triangle between S, V and L. Nice and bright in a pair of 15x50 Bins.

[Myrk511]

Southeast suburbs last night an excellent view in both the 114mm f7.9 and the 200mm f6. Coma was a bright fuzzy ball, the tail was diffuse and oval. Colour was bluish white. Brightness was equal to the surrounding stars in the telescopes.

The clouds ended the show at 22:30 but before that it was almost naked eye, easy in binoculars, and pretty cool in the scopes.

Moar clouds for the next couple of nights. Let’s hope there’s a bit of a break before it fades.

[Tropo-Bob]

I viewed the comet tonight with my Vixen 115ED. It looked great; the length of the tail showing well with a 35mm Panoptic and the head with a 14mm Delos.

I thought it looked brighter, but conditions were clearer tonight and I was also using a larger scope.

It was about 15 degrees south of Saturn and at about the same elevation.

[Finbar]

Also clear up here on the Atherton tablelands, unexpectedly
Since had been promised rain. So grabbed gear and popped out of town. Then even the wispy clouds vanished as I set up, 105mm on AZ-EQ6. Aligned on Venus (really pretty thin crescent) and then added binoviewer with Denk 21mm.

When dark enough to find, it was a delight, bright core, lovely come and ample tail. But had stupidly set tripod up too high, so eventually it was too awkward to continue. Best view so far, and when no more was expected.

[Graman]

Managed to get a good look last couple of nights from Jarvis Bay. Sky is pretty dark here and conditions have been pretty clear (if a little windy). Can just about make it out using naked eye once you know where to look. Easily visible using 7 x 50 binos. Tail is definitely longer and more defined compared to last week (although that could just be suburban Sydney light pollution effect).

Really pleased to have caught a glimpse. Who knows what will happen next week as it goes around the sun!

Clear skies…

[The Mekon]

Missed out on looking for this comet on the 29th - which was the frist clear night in months where I live. Determined not to lose out yesterday, I drove out to a local lookout with a clear view to the west. It was a good thing that I programmed my mount with the co-ordinates of the comet before I left, otherwise would never have seen it. Failed to spot in twilight with 7x50 binoculars so I sent the mount to the position and there it was! A decent view was not forthcoming until totally dark - after 21:30. At 45X I could see a tight nucleus, much coma and a tail around 2 degrees. Far from the best comet I have seen - my first was Comet Bennet in 1970, and best for most us will always be McNaught in 2007.

[Merlin66]

Easily visible south of Jupiter, 10pm in the Nikon A211 10x50 Bino. Nucleus, coma, head and tail visible.
Well worth while making the effort, not too many great comets at the moment.

[By.Jove]

Easily seen in 7 x 50 in dark skies about 9pm local time...

[JethroB76]

Had a look on NY eve and it finally popped at around 10.15pm..just before I gave up.
Nice obvious tail in the 11x70 binos and then in a 20mm Nagler in the lightbridge

[WAussie]

I had some good views of Comet Leonard on the night of Christmas with binoculars and my 20 × 80 spotting scope, which my Mum used to see it as well. The tail was about 4 degrees long and I had a very close up view in my 14 inch scope - quite spectacular.