SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Mike Olason
Location of Photo:
Tucson, Arizona
Date/Time of photo:
7 June 2021, 0521 UT
Equipment:
11" SCT and STF-8300M CCD Camera
Description:
In these images Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) is magnitude 17.1, 337 million miles from Earth, has a 15 arc second wide coma and a tail at least 0.014 degrees long at a position angle of 94 degrees from the coma. The comet will reach perihelion in it's orbit in January 2022 when it will be only 56 million miles from the Sun. The comet makes it's close approach to the Earth in December 2021 at 20 million miles when it may brighten to magnitude 4 if it follows the predicted magnitude curves. If we are very lucky some may see a Christmas Comet in their skies from very dark areas, but it is a comet so no one knows for sure.
