ASTRONOMY IS FULL OF SURPRISES, and this issue is, too. Some developments are not completely unexpected but still thrill when they occur. Take Comet Leonard. When first detected in early 2021, it was 19th magnitude, and astronomers didn't expect it to get much brighter than 4th mag. Yet as Sean Walker relates in his follow-up on page 58, by year's end Comet Leonard had reached mag 3 or better in several outbursts. These brightenings left photographers like Blake Estes, who shot our cover image, tripping over themselves to capture shots.
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