C/2021 A1 (Leonard)
Type: Hyperbolic
Perihelion date: 3 January 2022
Perihelion distance (q): 0.6
Aphelion distance (Q) : n/a
Period (years): n/a
Eccentricity (e): 1.00
Inclination (i): 132.7
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
Gregory Leonard discovered a comet of 19th magnitude in images taken with the
1.5m reflector of the Mt Lemmon Survey on 3 January 2021. It was placed on the
PCCP as C4AGJ62. There were prediscovery observations from Catalina Sky Survey
(December 2020 and January 2021), Mt Lemmon Survey (April and November
2020), PanSTARRS (April, May, June and August 2020) and the Szeged Asteroid
Program, Hungary (November 2020).The comet will pass 0.23 au from the earth on
12 December 2021 and 0.0286 au from Venus on 18 December 2021. The comet
could come within visual range in October 2021 and reach 4th magnitude in
December during its approach to Earth. It then goes into solar conjunction.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
14-Feb-21
18.0
0.4
17-Mar-21
17.5
0.4
05-Apr-21
18.06
0.05
17.6
0.4
13-Apr-21
17.8
0.4
03-May-21
16.8
0.4
15-May-21
17.1
0.4