Where to look for Comet C/2021 A1 LEONARD during December

Comet C/2021 A1 LEONARD (photographed above, by myself, from Kendal, Cumbria in the early hours of November 25th – image is a crop from a processed stack of multiple images taken with a Canon 700D DSLR/300mm lens/iOptron tracker) is brightening nicely and it’s looking promising for reaching naked eye brightness in December, once the pesky Moon is out of the way. It should even be visible in binoculars now, going by some reports. What will we see in December? No-one in their right mind is predicting another Comet NEOWISE, and if you read any posts or comments suggesting that (and you won’t see any of them here!) you should take them with a Big Dipper-sized spoon of salt, but you never know with comets…

What we do know is that in December we’ll be able to see A1 LEONARD in both the morning and evening sky from here in the UK, and from other mid-northern latitudes too. It will be better placed before dawn – i.e. higher, and in a darker sky – but IF it does start to grow a tail it will look more photogenic in the evening sky, when it will be lower but you’ll be able to take photographs of it above a skyline with trees and hills, etc.

Whenever you choose to look for it these very basic finder charts will help you look for it during the month ahead.

Note: these charts are drawn for mid-UK latitudes. If you live north/south of those then you should use an astronomy app such as Sky Safari or an online planetarium such as Stellarium Live or The Sky Live to show you where to look for the comet in the sky above where you are.

Finally, I’m seeing a few people saying “I’ll wait until it gets brighter in December to look for it…” Bad idea. Come early to mid-December, when the comet is at its best, the weather could turn bad and stay bad for days on end, meaning you could miss it. If you can, get out and look for it now.