Two satellites that were designed to monitor the sun captured footage of Comet Leonard speeding past Earth. It was the brightest green comet in over 70,000 years.
At nearly 160,000 miles per an hour, the comet has approached Earth and the Sun since January, which was its year of discovery.
It measures about half a kilometer in diameter and was captured using the NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory – Aspacecraft (STEREOA) and European Space Agency (ESA – Solar Orbiter observatory.
Since November, STEREO A has been following the green comet. NASA’s team was able to create a brief animation using dozens of images.
NASA released a “difference picture” to show the brightness changes caused by comet emissions.
ESA’s spacecraft captured video of the comet moving across the field between December 17th and 19th, 2021. This was a joint effort with NASA.
The bright green Comet Leonard speeds past Earth in the video captured by two satellites that were designed to see the sun.
This ball of ice-and-dust is approximately half a mile in diameter and was captured by NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) (right) and European Space Agency (ESA), Solar Orbiter observatory.
Comet Leonard will come within millennia of the Sun on January 3, 2022. Before that, both satellites used to observe the sun were directed in its direction.
NASA created an animated “difference picture” with a grey background that highlights the comet’s tail and shines in space.
The current frame was subtracted from the preceding frame in order to emphasize the differences.
Difference images are useful for seeing subtle changes in Leonard’s ion tail, which is the trail of ionised gases streaming from the comet’s body.
You can see it getting longer and brighter towards the end.
Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Camera (SoloHI), which was captured the video, showed it moving diagonally in its field, while Venus, Mercury, and the Milky Way are also clearly visible.
Solar Orbiter is seen moving towards a sidelong view. This allows for more detail of the comet as it traverses space.
SoloHI was able to continue watching the comet up until today, and more footage could be made.
Gregory Leonard was the one who discovered Comet Leonard in January 2021. He took images from Mt. Lemmon Observatory Arizona
The Sun’s nearest pass will be on January 3rd 2022. It will come within 56,000,000 miles of our star. That is roughly half the distance from Earth to the Sun.
If it doesn’t disintegrate on its way to the Sun, then Comet Leonard’s trajectory will fling it into interstellar space, never to return.
Scientists believe it could be already splitting within a year of its discovery, or that it will soon begin to separate.
A comet is heated up when its orbit closes to the Sun. It spews gases and dust into a huge glowing head that is larger than any other planets.
On January 3, 2022 it will come within millennia of the Sun. Both solar-observing satellites pointed at its direction before that time.
Comets – also called ‘cosmic snowballs’ or ‘icy dirtballs’ – are conglomerations of frozen gas, dust and ice left over from the formation of the solar system.
The orbit they take around the Sun is highly elliptical. This means that their paths are not perfect circular. They can also spend thousands or hundreds of years deep in the Solar System’s darkest parts before coming back to the Sun for their “perihelion”.
Comet Leonard, however, has a hyperbolic or orbit which means it will pass the Sun and be ejected into the Solar System. Earthlings won’t see it again.
Gregory Leonard, who saw it from images taken at Mt. Lemmon Observatory, Arizona
A comet is heated up when its orbit closes to the Sun. It spews gases and dust into a huge glowing head that’s larger than any other planet.
Comet Leonard probably spent around 35,000 year coming inbound approximately from 323 billion mile (520 billion km). It may also have visited the inner solar systems about 70,000 years before.
Comet Leonard approaches Earth closest on Sunday, 12/12/12 before its perihelion in January 3.
Because its interior of icy rocks heats up closer to the Sun it emits a blue dust first, followed by yellow, white, and then finally green.
If it changes to a teal-colored colour it indicates it is hot, has lots of diatomic carbon, and may be at the highest risk for breaking up.