Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

[Arnie Pie]

Tomorrow evening into Wednesday looks to be a good bet.

With the comet high in the sky and close to Polaris due N

7-9pm it will be visible from my balcony, then it`s down, the park to familiarize myself with my set-up, and hopefully get some shots

This might be the only opportunity for a while

[Dreckly]

Article from space.com about ZTF closest approach on Wednesday.

Green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be closest to Earth on Feb. 1 | Space

WWW.SPACE.COM

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C/2022 E3 (ZTF) hasn't been so close to Earth for 50,000 years since the last ice age and prior to the extinction of the Neanderthals.

 

[Jamie M]

Bloody hell this took a couple hours to try and wrap my head around processing 

Arc-sine hyperbolic stretches is the only thing that managed to bring out both tails.

Various videos on stretching data that failed me. Photoshop crashing, nearly gave up 

Well I've managed this in the end with just over 33 minutes of data.

103 x ISO 3200 3 second exposures at 135 mm, cropped in and tracked

[Beverley Lass]

I had hopes of seeing the comet with binoculars tonight but there's only a few main
stars visible.
I'll try again tomorrow night ..
Thanks to all here showing their super photos.  

BL  

[Arnie Pie]

Frustratingly hazed over here for most of the evening and showing no signs of clearing

next time...

[Arnie Pie]

With a disappointing forecast up until the start of next week, where it is meant to be clearer.
Next weeks viewing opportunities are worth a post

the position of the comet in the sky is moving into the constellation of Auriga and is very close to the prominent star of Capella

so locating the comet will be easier

A note to remember about Capella is that its a Double star and has a gorgeous twinkly appearance and is one of the brightest stars in the sky
But my NLC`s experience tells me to' fine focus' my camera on another star (it`s just to twinkly) edit; Mars will be a good object to focus on

 

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Arnie Pie

[Jamie M]

C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

WWW.ASTROBIN.COM

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An astrophotograph by Jamie McBean on AstroBin

There's the Astrobin link with the TIFF file on it if anyone wants a shot if they're bored 

[Metwatch]

 

Lovely time lapse of the comet that came up on my feed. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Metwatch

[Arnie Pie]

15 minutes ago, Jamie M said:

There's the Astrobin link

Some great images to aspire to ...and advice on how

to achieve them

19 minutes ago, Jamie M said:

bored 

I like to call it my 'favourite distraction'

[matty40s]

 

[Sprites]

From 30-1-23  moon about 70%

Single exposure 20 seconds ISO 3200, 300mm 

May try stacking a few of these 

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Sprites

[Arnie Pie]

On 02/02/2023 at 02:00, Sprites said:

May try stacking a few of these 

Nice single frame shot

if your like me you`ll have Many GB`s of images, saved on storage media for future processing ( however long the learning process takes)

After a week of cloudy frustration

There maybe a chance for later this evening and into the morning hours, with cloud cover forecast to disperse from the NW over the morning hours

All eye`s towards Capella in the NW early hours 

Good luck All

[Sprites]

Yes the full moon is not helping untill the 8th. The comet will be fading but still worth a go with Mars etc. 

Here's a stack of 10 x 20 seconds ISO 6400 in DSS. I've forgot how to use the comet stack settings. The stars are odd colours, it's not great.

I used Rawtherepee 5.9 , haven't used it for ages. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Sprites

[Weather-history]

 

[Dreckly]

16 hours ago, Arnie Pie said:

Nice single frame shot

if your like me you`ll have Many GB`s of images, saved on storage media for future processing ( however long the learning process takes)

After a week of cloudy frustration

There maybe a chance for later this evening and into the morning hours, with cloud cover forecast to disperse from the NW over the morning hours

All eye`s towards Capella in the NW early hours 

Good luck All

Alas it has been to cloudy for me do it has been fantastic to see all the images that have been taken

[Arnie Pie]

A couple of hours of clear skies this morning, out to the NW

Taken around 02.15

5" @ 5.0f - ISO 1600- LP filter fitted  WB AWB- lens @ 120mm

60 images stacked with Sequator

I was concerned when i first saw the image due to the elongated look of the comet

but seeing @Weather-history image above, removed that concern

Not the best conditions this morning with a full Moon, and the altitude of the comet at 36°

[Arnie Pie]

The chance of a photo with Capella and a comet proved irresistible
Shot between 03.00 - 3.30

As earlier the conditions weren`t idea and with the comet down to an altitude 30°

4" @ 4.0f - ISO 1600- LP filter fitted  WB AWB- lens @ 70mm

100 images stacked with Sequator
processed with an older version of PhotoScape (for now)

 

With the close fly-by of Mars next weekend, and as @Sprites mention better shooting conditions,

I think that a drink in the 'Last Chance Saloon' may be required

Edit; Opens 22.00 - 10/02/23 - for best drinking time with No jokes about  Uranus

Edited February 5, 2023 by Arnie Pie

[Sprites]

Clearish sky early hours 2am got this shot with Capella 

And this evening 18.30 before the clouds arrived. Single 10 second shot iso 3200 at 210mm Edited on pixel 4a 

 

[Sprites]

A couple more from yesterday evening 6-2-23 

Not quite up to the photo from Michael Jaeger 

 

I knew C/2020 U2 atlas was nearby earlier. 

Michael Jaeger is one of the best comet photographers around 

https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=192424

Edited February 7, 2023 by Sprites

[Summer of 95]

Finally seen it in my binoculars tonight! Moon has been too near it the last few days since the sky cleared but got it just now. Easily seen but in binoculars beware of the three bright clusters in Auriga (M36/37/38) which could easily be mistaken for it- I made sure I'd identified them all before confirming which one was the comet. Tonight It's down from Capella, towards Mars, below and slightly right of the kids (the three stars in a triangle). Theres a 5th magnitude star (Omega Aurigae) very close to it.

[Sprites]

Both 20 second exp iso 6400

The seeing was poor tonight even before moonrise it was hazy. 

Comet E3 ZTF

Trying to find Comet C/2022 U2 atlas near ZETA , but can't pick it out amongst all that....

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sprites

[Arnie Pie]

14 hours ago, Sprites said:

Both 20 second exp iso 6400

Cracking shots @Sprites

Both single frames?
are you still using RawTherepe for final procesing?

Another low altitude capture this morning 02.00 - 04.00 (around the 20° Altitude)

10"- f4.0 - ISO 1600 - LP filter fitted - WB K6400 - Lens at 105mm
120 stacked

I'm having a frustrating time with my EOS 40D
Every time I switch from mains to battery, the camera is refusing to except the CF card
To get it to work again requires a hard re-set  (i.e. Both batteries out and re-install the firmware)

 

[Sprites]

Hello Arnie 

Yes they are both single shots, The iso was 6400, I haven't stacked those yet. I use an Astrotracer  which is a GPS unit that fits onto the hotshoe.

Amazon.co.uk

WWW.AMAZON.CO.UK

The GPS unit can be temperamental depends on location. It seems to work ok up to 20 seconds at 300mm on K70 and K5 cameras. Obviously only works on Pentax cameras, I used Pentax years ago before this GPS was around, so I've stuck with that system.

I take the photo and then edit it in camera converting it from RAW to jpg. 

Then I send the JPG to my phone with  image synk app. On my phone I have Polish photo editor and Snapseed. Snapseed can also edit RAW. Its quite a lazy way to do it. And it's not as good as using better noise reduction stacking etc. 

Also if you have alot of light pollution it's not so easy with single exposures. It's about Bortle 6 in town , and about 5 nearby. I took all these from my garden. The Comet was almost overhead when I took them about 6.45pm yesterday. 

Cloud is now arriving from the NW. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sprites

[Sprites]

2 hours ago, Arnie Pie said:

Cracking shots @Sprites

Both single frames?
are you still using RawTherepe for final procesing?

Another low altitude capture this morning 02.00 - 04.00 (around the 20° Altitude)

10"- f4.0 - ISO 1600 - LP filter fitted - WB K6400 - Lens at 105mm
120 stacked

I'm having a frustrating time with my EOS 40D
Every time I switch from mains to battery, the camera is refusing to except the CF card
To get it to work again requires a hard re-set  (i.e. Both batteries out and re-install the firmware)

 

I think there are Canon forums, you could try asking on there.

[Arnie Pie]

Cheers Sprites
Makes sense with the tracker giving more exposure time. that's one hell of a clever feature on Pentax camera`s, no need for a tracking mount
(unknown to me until i watched a YT video)
I`ve always been a Canon man, its certainly food for thought towards Pentax

From the forums I`ve discovered how to recover the camera, but not to solve the problem
and with no more firmware updates available from Canon for it`s dinosaur camera`s....it is what it is

Not a good forecast for the next few days
 

Edited February 9, 2023 by Arnie Pie