Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

[Zak M]

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a comet that was discovered in March this year and is currently lurking near the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is expected to brighten over the next few weeks and is likely to be visible by the naked eye in areas away from light pollution.

Here's a shot I managed of the comet a few days ago at around 3am, looking NE as it was rising above the horizon. This was taken with 400 two-second exposures and stacked using DeepSkyStacker.

[Weather-history]

12 hours ago, Zak M said:

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a comet that was discovered in March this year and is currently lurking near the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is expected to brighten over the next few weeks and is likely to be visible by the naked eye in areas away from light pollution.

Here's a shot I managed of the comet a few days ago at around 3am, looking NE as it was rising above the horizon. This was taken with 400 two-second exposures and stacked using DeepSkyStacker.

Read about this recently, what makes it better for us is that it heading towards the polar region of the night sky as it brightens  which will make it circumpolar, increases the chances of seeing it as it will never set for the UK.  

[Southern Storm]

 

On 27/12/2022 at 19:58, Zak M said:

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a comet that was discovered in March this year and is currently lurking near the constellation of Corona Borealis. It is expected to brighten over the next few weeks and is likely to be visible by the naked eye in areas away from light pollution.

Here's a shot I managed of the comet a few days ago at around 3am, looking NE as it was rising above the horizon. This was taken with 400 two-second exposures and stacked using DeepSkyStacker.

Nice capture Zak, I guess your image is unguided? Do you mind me asking what camera and lens you used?

This is my effort for now.. 

I got set up, polar aligned my star adventurer, and by the time I'm was ready, it started to cloud over  

You can't beat the British climate!

I Shot mine on the Canon 750D (crop body) 150-600mm Sigma probably around 470mm (750 equivalent) with an of aperture 7.1 

This is 1 x 30 second exposure of about 4 that I managed to capture, so didn't bother stacking them in the end

Fingers crossed for some decent weather before the moon becomes too full to get decent pictures.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Southern Storm

[Zak M]

1 hour ago, Southern Storm said:

 

Nice capture Zak, I guess your image is unguided? Do you mind me asking what camera and lens you used?

This is my effort for now.. 

I got set up, polar aligned my star adventurer, and by the time I'm was ready, it started to cloud over  

You can't beat the British climate!

I Shot mine on the Canon 750D (crop body) 150-600mm Sigma probably around 470mm (750 equivalent) with an of aperture 7.1 

This is 1 x 30 second exposure of about 4 that I managed to capture, so didn't bother stacking them in the end

Fingers crossed for some decent weather before the moon becomes too full to get decent pictures.

Hi - yes, my attempt was untracked and I used a Canon EOS 850D with my EFS 18-135mm lens. 

Lovely shot there too. Hoping to get a star tracker next year

[Sprites]

I managed to find it early AM today, a basic guide is find Arcturus in the east at 3am, look left to the next brightest star, then left and slightly down to the next bright star. I did cheat a bit with Mobile Stellarium.

It was mostly clear but quite hazy,  came out with a 4 second exposure at 90mm. Haven't had chance to check my pics as yet.

@Zak and Southern Storm

Did you use Stellarium to find it?

Comet of the month: C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – British Astronomical Association

BRITASTRO.ORG

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Sprites

[Southern Storm]

 

38 minutes ago, Sprites said:

I managed to find it early AM today, a basic guide is find Arcturus in the east at 3am, look left to the next brightest star, then left and slightly down to the next bright star. I did cheat a bit with Mobile Stellarium.

It was mostly clear but quite hazy,  came out with a 4 second exposure at 90mm. Haven't had chance to check my pics as yet.

@Zak and Southern Storm

Did you use Stellarium to find it?

Comet of the month: C/2022 E3 (ZTF) – British Astronomical Association

BRITASTRO.ORG

 

I do use Stellerium, and I find that this site is also quite useful 

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) | TheSkyLive.com

THESKYLIVE.COM

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Discover all the most important facts and information about Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) updated in real time

With the weather being poor and a waxing moon, I don't think there will be many decent chances for a while, but if there's a break in the weather I'll definitely be getting up for an early morning photo op

[Jamie M]

On 28/12/2022 at 20:11, Southern Storm said:

 

Nice capture Zak, I guess your image is unguided? Do you mind me asking what camera and lens you used?

This is my effort for now.. 

I got set up, polar aligned my star adventurer, and by the time I'm was ready, it started to cloud over  

You can't beat the British climate!

I Shot mine on the Canon 750D (crop body) 150-600mm Sigma probably around 470mm (750 equivalent) with an of aperture 7.1 

This is 1 x 30 second exposure of about 4 that I managed to capture, so didn't bother stacking them in the end

Fingers crossed for some decent weather before the moon becomes too full to get decent pictures.

Cracking picture mate, think I'll have to try and nab it after that full moon has gone since it seems to be brightening rather quickly

[Sprites]

Last Friday I got a widefield view of the comet. It's hard to see in this view. It was also hazy and a few clouds around. 

 

4am today I tried again, but cloud moved in so just one 10 seconds exposure with a 55-300 zoom at 170mm.

Edited January 3, 2023 by Sprites

[Dreckly]

Screenshot of ZTF position

 

[weatherobsuk]

By some miracle we had a brief 30 minute window of clear-skies this early morning that I was hoping for at 4am, quickly rushed outside with the D3100 to finally get my first look at C/2022 E3 (ZTF) having memorised it's location close to HR 5901 in Borealis via Stellarium. The pictures won't win any prizes but i'm pleased to say that i've now seen my 15th Comet and observation magnitude of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is only going to get better the closer February approaches, all we need is one night of uninterrupted crystal-clear skies.

Edited January 9, 2023 by SNOW_JOKE

[Beverley Lass]

Good article and lovely pics here ..

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1718887/comet-once-in-50000-years-visible-naked-eye-how-you-can-see-it

[Methuselah]

2 minutes ago, Beverley Lass said:

Good article and lovely pics here ..

https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1718887/comet-once-in-50000-years-visible-naked-eye-how-you-can-see-it

But what about those two brilliant comets we saw back in the 1990s, BL? I sincerely hope that they weren't 50,000 years ago. I ain't that old!

[weirpig]

Not related to the topic  but  a huge comet fireball has been seen over London   unable to post pics but some of the captions on twitter are quite something 

[Arnie Pie]

Finally a crack at the comet early this morning around 2,30am

Atm the position of the comet places it in the dome of light omitted from Birmingham city centre, so light pollution hell

As @SNOW_JOKE has alluded to there is plenty of time yet, it`s still approaching and should be brighter at the end of the month where it will appear in the Western skies and away from the main LP

RAW files taken every 6" @ 5,6f  ISO 800   lens @ 270mm 

33 images stacked (Sequator).

 

[Arnie Pie]

This mornings Comet around 01.00 to the NNE

It seems to be getting brighter to me ( I wont need the massive yellow arrow this time)

Not visible to the eye yet .. early days

4" @ 5.0f ISO 1250  lens @ 270mm

10 frames stacked

Edited January 15, 2023 by Arnie Pie

[Sprites]

Had a look this morning at 4am, just before it clouded up. 

Quite easy to find with a short  exposure it's below the handle of the plough ATM 

I was able to see it with 10x50 bins. 

10 seconds at 300m  ISO 6400 using Pentax astrotracer.

 

Edited January 15, 2023 by Sprites

[Southern Storm]

1 hour ago, Sprites said:

Had a look this morning at 4am, just before it clouded up. 

Quite easy to find with a short  exposure it's below the handle of the plough ATM 

I was able to see it with 10x50 bins. 

10 seconds at 300m  ISO 6400 using Pentax astrotracer.

 

Nice capture! 

hoping to get out in the next few days if the weather plays ball

[Zak M]

Also had another attempt at it. Think there might be a slight tail in there but hard to tell

[Jamie M]

Captured it tonight finally, some of the single exposures had the tail in them but trying to process them has managed to lose it.

I'll attached the stacked one and the single exposures.

The faint little splodge near the satellite, was the thing that made me realise it was the comet as it definitely wasn't like any star! 

A bit more of tail on this one. This was at 300 mm with a 6 sec exposure at iso 3200 at f6.3

Final processed stack from DeepSkyStacker with 29 1 minute subs at iso 6400 f/6.3 at 300 mm. Didn't bother with the star tracker due to how low in the NW it was but will do soon.

[Sprites]

A stack of 30 shots from early January, the moon was at 90 %

Edited January 16, 2023 by Sprites

[Southern Storm]

23 hours ago, Zak M said:

Also had another attempt at it. Think there might be a slight tail in there but hard to tell

 

23 hours ago, Jamie M said:

Captured it tonight finally, some of the single exposures had the tail in them but trying to process them has managed to lose it.

I'll attached the stacked one and the single exposures.

The faint little splodge near the satellite, was the thing that made me realise it was the comet as it definitely wasn't like any star! 

A bit more of tail on this one. This was at 300 mm with a 6 sec exposure at iso 3200 at f6.3

Final processed stack from DeepSkyStacker with 29 1 minute subs at iso 6400 f/6.3 at 300 mm. Didn't bother with the star tracker due to how low in the NW it was but will do soon.

 

1 hour ago, Sprites said:

A stack of 30 shots from early January, the moon was at 90 %

Great shots guys! You're certainly more dedicated than me, as I could have made the effort two nights ago but decided against it, plus it was still quite breezy.

The weather is looking pretty decent for the next few nights though, and we are finally done with the moon spoiling things

Going by the latest forecast, it will probably be tomorrow that I'll get out with the camera, as I'm expecting cloud to roll in soon   

Wishing you all clear skies

[Southern Storm]

Taken this morning 

Started off very clear, but I had issues trying to polar align and wasted a lot of time, so only ended up with a few decent images so image is quite noisy 

It's definitely brightening up nicely though, which bodes well for the coming days 

[Andy Bown]

8 hours ago, Southern Storm said:

Taken this morning 

Started off very clear, but I had issues trying to polar align and wasted a lot of time, so only ended up with a few decent images so image is quite noisy 

It's definitely brightening up nicely though, which bodes well for the coming days 

Which direction were you looking please? So I can try to see it and show my son in the next few mornings! Thank you.

[Southern Storm]

1 hour ago, Andy Bown said:

Which direction were you looking please? So I can try to see it and show my son in the next few mornings! Thank you.

Hi Andy 

The Image I posted was taken while looking east, roughly 45 degrees above the horizon, about around 4am  

I managed to locate it using two stars  in  Ursa major.. see picture

It's definitely worth the effort, but I would set you expectations quite low, as there has been quiet a few sensationalist stories going on in the press, that raise peoples expectations beyond what will likely happen!

 You will definitely need some kind of optical aid to be able to see this comet, as it's going to be barely visible to the naked eye, if at all

Hope that helps 

[Jamie M]

Clear night last night although bloody cold meant I could try and see if I could see the comet in my 7x50s.

I managed but it was very hard to see, very fuzzy and very faint nucleus that I could only really catch the light off if I moved the binoculars slightly - think this is the technique of averted vision but to me it's just giving them a little shake 

No sign of any detail although the fuzziness reminded me of when I observed Andromeda earlier in the night which has the same similar fuzziness to it although had more detail that I could see which is not surprising considering the magnitude makes it about twice as bright.