C/2021 A1 (Leonard) is an inbound long period comet discovered by G. J. Leonard at the Mount Lemmon Observatory on 3 January 2021 (a year before perihelion) when the comet was 5 AU (750 million km) from the Sun.[1] Jupiter's orbit (5 AU from the Sun) is at the frost line where methanol (CH3OH) and water start sublimation. This is the first comet discovered in 2021 and has a retrograde orbit. On 12 December 2021 the comet will be 0.233 AU (34.9 million km) from Earth and on 18 December 2021 will be 0.028 AU (4.2 million km) from Venus. It will make its closest approach to the Sun on 3 January 2022. It may reach naked eye visibility in December 2021. At an apparent magnitude of 4, it should be a good binocular comet. On 10 October the comet showed a short but dense dust tail. As of late November the comet has a total magnitude (coma+nucleus) of around 8. This image shows the comet on the night of 12/13 November 2021.