Brilliant green comet loses part of its tail to solar storm in this stunning astrophotographer photo

[Admin]

An image taken by an Austrian comet hunter reveals a disconnection in Comet's C/2022 E3 (ZTF) tail that may have been caused by turbulent space weather.

Brilliant green comet loses part of its tail to solar storm in this stunning astrophotographer photo : Read more

 

[rod]

I did enjoy some early morning views of C/2022 E3 ZTF this morning. The comet is much easier to see now using modest equipment.

Observed 0115-0230 EST. New Moon 21-Jan-2023 2053 UT. Easy to locate C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet this morning. Nekkar in Bootes, Edasich in Draco, and Theta Draconis frame the comet. A trio of 5.75 to 5.96 stars made an easy star hop to the comet. HIP76376, HIP76509, and HIP76311 in Draco. The trio about 2-degrees or more angular separation from the comet. 10x50 binocular views, easy to see the fuzzy coma and comet now. Using my 90-mm refractor telescope with TeleVue 32-mm plossl at 31x, distinct bright fuzzy coma and nucleus with some fan shape too. A bit more than 43 arcminutes angular separation, visible in the same FOV as the comet was 6.70 magnitude star, HIP76384 in Bootes. Stellarium reports 6.7 magnitude. The comet was brighter and theskylive.com reports an apparent magnitude now 5.90. That looked good. Other fainter stars visible in the FOV too along with C/2022 E3 ZTF. This was a fun comet observing time with clear skies, temperature 1C, winds 270/8 knots. I started observing comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on 24-Dec-2022 when magnitude 8.59 was reported for the comet.

 

[billslugg]

At 5.90 is should be just within naked eye visibility. Any luck there?

 

[rod]

At 5.90 is should be just within naked eye visibility. Any luck there?

billslugg, no, I did not see the comet. Where I view from in MD, moderately light polluted skies and more towards the north and northeast sector. Baltimore and Annapolis regions. I am much farther south along the Patuxent River farms but still light polluted. Commonly I can see about 5.5 apparent magnitude stars unaided eyes. The comet was easy to see framed by Draco stars and Bootes this morning using 10x50 binoculars. That distinct 3-star pattern in Darco I mentioned, easy star hop to the comet using my binoculars, it was an obvious large fuzzy and brighter image compared to when I first viewed on 24-Dec-2022. I used a Telrad on the telescope that made it easy to place in the eyepiece view. I keep seeing reports like MSNBC in my MS Edge browser showing great pictures for the public and hyping the comet. Using modest equipment like I did this morning, you can get a better view now, but nothing spectacular It is fun though looking at the fuzzy in the morning sky I could setup my 10-inch Newtonian, but I am not doing a weightlifting routine at those time slots The binoculars and 90-mm refractor on tripod is much easier to use near 0200 in the morning.