The meteor shower happens at the same time each year in mid-December, when Earth’s orbit passes through leftover debris from an asteroid (3200 Phaethon) that has been called a “rock-comet” because of its composition, with a tail but not made of ice like a comet. The Geminid meteor shower will peak late on the night of Dec. “Long period comets have orbital periods of over 200 years up to millions of years,” so this will be our only chance to see Comet Leonard. “Through binoculars, the comet will look like a faint fuzzy star as the comet moves relative to the background stars,” he said. Stevens recommends using a miniature telescope or binoculars to catch the comet. 3 (perihelion), before departing our solar system. The comet will grow dimmer as it moves farther away and makes its closest approach to the sun on Jan. 14, low in the southwest and below Venus, about a half-hour after sunset.
The good news is that Comet Leonard will reappear in the evening sky around Dec. 12 at a considerable distance of more than 21 million miles.
The sun’s glare will make viewing hazardous when it sails past Earth very low on the horizon during its closest approach Dec. 10 the comet “will be too close to the sun to be safely viewed” in the early morning sky. (See the charts in EarthSky.)ĭon Stevens, director of Perkins Observatory at Ohio Wesleyan University, added the important caveat that after Dec. 10, when the viewing time will be a half-hour before sunrise. 5, the narrow window for seeing the comet was 90 minutes before sunrise, which will shift later each night through Dec.