A comet is expected to fly past Earth next week during its journey through our Solar System towards the Sun. The comet, named Leonard after the astronomer Gregory Leonard, who discovered it earlier this year, is likely to be bright when it makes its closest approach to Earth on December 12
In fact, the comet is still visible in the sky in the east, before sunrise. Stargazers can spot it between the Big Dipper’s handle and Arcturus, one of the brightest stars seen from Earth.
Telescopes picked up the comet sporting a greenish coma harpooning the heart of NGC 4631 also known as the Whale Galaxy. Its closest approach to Earth (and even closer approach to Venus) still to come, comet Leonard will grow brighter as December goes by.
The comet will have its closest approach to Earth on December 12, just a couple of weeks before it reaches its closest distance from the Sun. While comets are notoriously hard to predict, some estimations have Comet Leonard brightening to become visible to the unaided eye in December.
The comet was first discovered by by astronomer Gregory J Leonard in January this year at the Mount Lemmon Observatory. A senior research specialist, he spotted the faint object, which was nearly 1,60,000 times dimmer than the faintest stars visible to the unaided eye. At the time, the comet was 149.565 million kilometres from the Sun near the orbit of Jupiter.
According to space.com, the initial calculations showed it was travelling in an exceedingly long, flattened elliptical orbit taking it out as far as 523 billion kilometres. And as it came closer to the Sun, it began going directly from a frozen state into a gas leaving behind a trail.
