C/2021 A1 (Leonard)

[tripleped]

Convinced  I saw  Leonard  last  night but no tail. I'm at  about  39 N (U.S.) and  viewed  in Bortle 6 conditions, quite  clear night, good seeing.  Used  Heritage  150 p with setting circle and digital inclinometer. Have used this method  several times  on other targets  and   it has  been quite  accurate for me. Using  25 mm Plossl (giving  approx  1.7 degree fov) I first centered on Venus (beautiful thin crescent I might add!) and using  alt/az data from  sky safari pro made  adjustments  and  had  it well within the fov. Even repeated the procedure  2 more times and was  able  to reproduce same result. Highest  altitude I caught  it was about  9 degrees, became  very mushy at  about  5 degrees.  No tail but I'm certain I had found  it.  Even without  the tail it had  a different  look to it than a star.   Perhaps if I had  my 10 " Dob would've seen the tail.

[Nik271]

Well done, @tripleped! It seems to have brightened to magnitude 3 - perfect for Souther hemisphere observers. Just bad luck for us in the north to miss it with this appalling weather.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Nik271