Night Sky Photography -- 12-24-2021 -- Planets With Comet Leonard In Southwestern Sky On Christmas Day!

Good Evening & Merry Christmas 2021, Y'all!

This evening, following the traditional family gathering, I journeyed out to the nearby baseball field to capture a Christmas Day photo of the three planets, Venus, Saturn, & Jupiter lined up in the southwestern evening sky an hour after sunset.

In addition to the planets, and the bright stars Fomalhaut and Altair, I was just barely able to capture the nearby nucleus of the Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) just above the horizon.

Comet Leonard last passed by our planet about 80,000 years ago and made its closest approach to Earth on Sunday, December 12, when it came within 21 million miles.

The comet was discovered on January 3rd of this year by astronomer Gregory J. Leonard of the Mount Lemmon Observatory near Tucson, Arizona. The comet will disappear forever as it travels even further into space after it passes by Earth and leaves our Solar System traveling at approximately 158,084 miles per hour -- or more than half the distance between our Earth and the Moon (238,900 miles).

If y'all would like to witness this once in a lifetime celestial event for yourself, then you're in luck. Comet Leonard will appear in the night sky in both hemispheres until the end of December. However, the comet's nucleus is not visible to the naked eye without the aid of a telescope, binoculars, or camera lens.

As you can see in the photo, I was barely able to capture the nucleus as it appears very light blue against the dusk. I could not capture the comet's tail properly with the lens I had unfortunately. All the same, I'm proud that I was able to get this shot for y'all.

I hope y'all enjoyed this evening's night sky offering, my little Christmas present for y'all. Have a wonderful Holiday Season and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all hear!