Video: Comet Leonard over One Hour

Which direction is this comet going? A full 3D analysis shows that comet Leonard is almost directly away from the camera, despite being seen by the tail. The dust tail can only be seen as a yellow-white glow near the comet's head with this perspective. The bluish ion tail is made up of escaping ion that are forced away from the Sun by the solar wind. Sometimes solar magnetic reconnection will break the ion tail into knots that are pushed away from the Sun. The featured one-hour time-lapse video was captured in Thailand in late December. As it heads out of the Solar System, comet Leonard is fading.