How to see green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) as it approaches Earth

[Admin]

Look in the northern skies during the early morning hours and green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) may be visible to the naked eye.

How to see green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) as it approaches Earth : Read more

 

[rod]

Some early morning comet viewing today Easy to see now using 10x50 binoculars and my 90-mm refractor telescope.

Observed 0200-0330 EST. First Quarter Moon 28-Jan-2023 1519 UT. Easy to locate C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet this morning. Theskylive.com reports magnitude 5.6 now. Stellarium 1.2 shows C/2022 E3 (ZTF) about 1 degree 51 arcminute angular separation from Edasich in Draco when I started observing. Distinct, bright 10x50 binocular view and simple to locate using Telrad with my 90-mm refractor telescope. I used TeleVue 14-mm Delos eyepiece (71x) for a bit more than 60-arcminute true FOV along with 10x50 binoculars. Draco stars HIP74756 (7.60 magnitude) and TYC4181-1286-1 (8.90 magnitude) are about 8 arcminutes apart from each other, visible in the FOV with the comet. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) distinct coma about same angular size (8 arcminutes), visible with slight fan shape and some tail now, perhaps 15-20 arcminutes faintly visible across the FOV at 71x using. Stellarium 1.2 reports coma diameter about 17 arcminutes or so and gas tail length close to 1.5-degrees. Other fainter stars visible along with C/2022 E3 (ZTF). This was fun comet observing with clear skies, temperature -2C, winds 280/5 knots. I started observing comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on 24-Dec-2022 when magnitude 8.59 was reported. I did not see unaided eyes because of light pollution towards N and NE sectors, I can see about 5.0 or so magnitude stars in those directions but very easy using 10x50 binoculars now and 90-mm refractor telescope. The woodburning stove was running when I came back inside.

 

[Chumgrinder]

Disappointed so far.
Three nights in a row in dark-sky, using my Celestron Astro Fi 130mm, seeing nothing at the target spot, recalibrating, recalibrating...
After recalibrating again tonight, all I can see is the faintest huge green cloud, had to convince myself I wasn't imagining it. Nothing resembling definition or a tail, much less an anti-tail. Think I had seen this on previous nights, but dismissed it as eyestrain. This was hyped as such a great comet, "naked eye," the whole works.

 

[rod]

Chumgrinder in post #3, I am glad you could see the green cloud In my 90-mm refactor telescope at 71x, not very distinct green color but mostly grayish or somewhat darker color when I compared with some white colored stars in the FOV. I tracked this comet now 6 observations starting 24-Dec-2022. It is no Neowise comet that I enjoyed during July 2020. Another good comet view was Leonard (C/2021 A1) that I viewed 4x in December 2021. Notable because the faint fuzzy passed near M3 early morning 03-Dec-2021.

From what I can tell just reading reports, many in my MS EDGE browser, this comet is linked backed to Neanderthals during the time of mammoths and ice age when commonly promoted to the public . This site I use to check comet orbital elements published. https://minorplanetcenter.net//

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) eccentricity is slightly larger than 1 so the comet is not in a closed orbit with the Sun.