A comet and many falling stars

Created: 12/14/2021, 1:13 PM

Comet "C / 2021 A1 Leonard" will fly past Earth next weekend and could become visible in the morning sky.

© University of Hertfordshire / dpa

Play of light from space: there will be a tail star and glowing particles in the coming days.

A comet and many meteors can be seen in the sky, if the weather cooperates.

Heppenheim / Offenbach - The coming days could be a spectacle for onlookers and stargazers.

A comet and hundreds of meteors burning up in the atmosphere are expected in the night and morning skies over Germany.

Comet "C / 2021 A1 Leonard" will reach its closest point to earth at a distance of 34 million kilometers on Sunday morning and could possibly even be recognized with the naked eye if the sky is clear if the weather and dawn play along.

In the days that follow, the Geminids' meteors will burn up and appear in the hundreds in the sky during the night.

The high point is expected for Tuesday night, said chairwoman of the Sternfreunde Association, Sven Melchert, of the German press agency.

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Comet "Leonard" will be best seen on the eastern horizon on Sunday morning between six and seven o'clock, when dawn and the rising sun do not interfere. “This tail star will not make for a bright spectacle,” says the Sternfreunde. But it should be easy to spot with binoculars or a telescope. But according to the German Meteorological Service in Offenbach, there is probably only a few regions in Germany where there is a chance of a glance. A DWD spokesman said a warm front with precipitation from the west during the night. “A lot of clouds are pulling in. Perhaps the highest chances are in the Allgäu, in the Alps or in Eastern Saxony. "

"This visit to Comet Leonard is not a bright celestial event, but it will be the only one for us," said the astronomical friends.

After circling the sun in a wide arc, the celestial body will disappear into the vastness of space and never return to the solar system.

"C / 2021 A1 Leonard" was the first comet discovered this year on January 3rd.

He was spotted by Gregory J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in the US state of Arizona.

Comets are billions of years old and originate from the early days of our solar system.

They consist of a mixture of ice, dust and rock.

When a comet approaches the sun, its core, usually only a few kilometers in size, begins to evaporate and forms a dense cloud of dust and gas.

The comet's tail emerges later.

The highlight should be the night of December 14th

The Geminids, named after the constellation Gemini, could be a spectacle.

"With 150 meteors per hour, the Geminids are considered the richest river of the year," said Melchert.

The climax is to be expected in the night of December 14th.

However, the waxing moon does not set until after midnight, so that in the morning most of the dying meteors will be visible if the weather cooperates.

The DWD does not want to make any real forecast here.

Forecasts would see clouds and possibly fog as well.

The spokesman said the greatest opportunities might still be in the high altitudes of the Black Forest or the Alps.

According to Sternfreunde, if you want a chance at the shooting stars, you have to look to the east in the evening. The constellation Gemini - from which the Geminids seem to arise - will then be over the south in the course of the night and in the northwest in the morning. According to the association, the twins already rise in the evening hours in the eastern sky, so shooting stars can be expected throughout the night, even in the days after December 14th.

According to the astronomical friends, the fact that the meteors arise from the constellation Gemini is of course only a perspective effect.

The reason for their occurrence is that the earth is traversing a cosmic cloud of dust.

This presumably comes from the minor planet Phaethon, which may have broken and left debris behind.

When they penetrate into the earth's atmosphere, they then burn up and can be seen as falling stars in the sky.

dpa