New Comet P/2026 R2 (Leonard)
Taken by Mike Olason on October 12, 2026 @
Tucson, Arizona
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Details:
Comet C46K1R1 was discovered on September 14 by the Mount Bigelow Catalina Sky Survey, the MPC recently designated the new comet as P/2026 R2 (Leonard) which means that 22 years from now when it makes a return visit to the inner Solar System and if it is again observed it will be given a Periodic Comet designation. The comet made its close approach to Earth on October 6 at 29.4 million miles (47.3 million kilometers) from Earth and was magnitude 12, as it has moved away from Earth and is heading towards perihelion in its orbit on October 25 is has brightened a little, the comet was magnitude 11.8 on October 12 and was 32.2 million miles (51.8 million km) from Earth. The comet is still moving 4 degrees per day across Earth's skies since it is so close to Earth, thus the star streaks in all the images. There are gaps in the star streaks due to the deletion of images with satellites to close to the comet and clouds moving through the images. Click on the large images to get a better resolution image.
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