Starship Asterisk*

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:05 pm

Keyman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:01 pm Thanks. Figured it wasn't "too" close or we'd have seen it on TMZ. *L*

See the edit in my prior post. It seems to get REALLY close to Venus on Dec 18.

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:56 pm

Keyman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:07 pm
When they say

passing near both Earth and Venus

shouldn't we include at least an approximation of "near"?

EDIT: oh, and if you use The Sky Live site to step forward to Dec 18 in the comet's orbit, it verily seems to IMPACT Venus! If it really gets so close, I would think that Venus' mass would greatly affect its orbit!?

EDIT #2: ok, on zooming in, it clearly doesn't impact Venus , but it does seem to get awfully close.

EDIT #3: well, actually, it will still be several million miles away according to Forbes - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecarte ... nother-one

A paper has just been published that describes how close Comet Leonard will get to Venus—and it’s really close!

On December 18, 2021, the authors predict that Comet Leonard will pass just 2.6 million miles/4.3 million kilometers from the second planet from the Sun. It will then graze Venus with its dust trail less than two days later.

It’s the closest known incident of a long period comet coming so close to any planet save for the 2014 encounter of Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring and Mars, which produced a meteor shower on the red planet that could be seen by NASA spacecraft.

Keyman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 4:01 pm Thanks. Figured it wasn't "too" close or we'd have seen it on TMZ. *L*

Keyman wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:07 pm OK, maybe it's just me but...
When they say

passing near both Earth and Venus

shouldn't we include at least an approximation of "near"?

A paper has just been published that describes how close Comet Leonard will get to Venus—and it’s really close!

On December 18, 2021, the authors predict that Comet Leonard will pass just 2.6 million miles/4.3 million kilometers from the second planet from the Sun. It will then graze Venus with its dust trail less than two days later.

It’s the closest known incident of a long period comet coming so close to any planet save for the 2014 encounter of Comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring and Mars, which produced a meteor shower on the red planet that could be seen by NASA spacecraft.

passing near both Earth and Venus

she11back@hotmail.com wrote: ↑Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:00 am I probably missed it, but best time to see the comet in the USA or Florida, please.

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 4:06 pm

Comet Leonard started out at aphelion of ≈3700 AU
with an angular velocity of just 9 m/s
when its Oort Cloud neighbors all had
angular velocities of hundreds of meters per second

What caused Leonard to be such a laggard

Fred the Cat wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:52 pm

Cometary physics?

Engine design difficulties

neufer wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 4:06 pm

Comet Leonard started out at aphelion of ≈3700 AU
with an angular velocity of just 9 m/s

when its Oort Cloud neighbors all had
angular velocities of hundreds of meters per second

What caused Leonard to be such a laggard

Joe Stieber wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 5:33 am It's Sunday, but today's picture isn't an encore presentation! However, the subject, comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard), is certainly a current topic. I had my first view of it during the lunar eclipse on November 19, 2021, from the New Jersey Pines. I was able to detect it initially about an hour before maximum eclipse with my 15x56 binoculars and then confirmed the sighting in my 88 mm apo spotting scope at 25 to 60x. The latter instrument showed a vague tail. I'm looking forward to new moon on December 4, 2021, to see Leonard in a fully dark sky (and it should be distinctly brighter then).