See a naked-eye comet at its closest to the sun on Thursday (Jan. 12)

[Admin]

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which could be visible with the naked eye, will pass the sun on Thursday (Jan. 12) before approaching the Earth for the first time since the last ice age.

See a naked-eye comet at its closest to the sun on Thursday (Jan. 12) : Read more

 

[rod]

I observed this comet again, early today (10-Jan-2023).

Observed 0145-0345 EST/0645-0840 UT. Waning gibbous Moon in Leo this morning, very bright. Last Quarter Moon 15-Jan-2023 0210 UT. Near 0150 EST I observed a bright meteor streak across the sky from Arcturus location moving WNW. Estimate apparent magnitude -1.0 and it left a train behind, illuminated by bright moonlight. This may have been a late Quadrantid meteor. They streak at about 41 km/s. I picked out the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) using 10x50 binoculars near 0200 EST. Faint fuzzy. The 90-mm refractor telescope provided better views. I observed from 25x to 71x. At 25x, the comet and star Kappa CrB visible in the eyepiece FOV. Kappa CrB near 7:00 position, the comet fuzzy near 2:00 position, north up and mirror reverse view. They were separated by about 64 arcminutes according to Stellarium 1.2. There was a distinct double star visible too, HIP77252 double star. The double star ~ 41 arcminute angular separation from C/2022 E3 (ZTF). At 71x, the comet had more coma and some tail visible. The lower power view at 25x was nice because I could see Kappa CrB and the comet together in the FOV along with some other fainter stars. Starry Night Pro Plus 8 shows mv +7.41, Stellarium 1.2 shows mv + 7.41, and theskylive.com reports an apparent magnitude 7.5. The skies clear this morning with west winds 5 knots and temperature -2C. Some foxes and deer were out moving about while I observed. I used TeleVue 40-mm plossl for 25x, TeleVue 32-mm plossl for 31x, and TeleVue 14-mm Delos for 71x observations. This is my third observation of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since I started viewing 24-Dec-2022

 

[CB_Melbourne_AU]

Where were you viewing from? Is the comet going to be visible in the Southern Hemisphere? I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

 

[rod]

Where were you viewing from? Is the comet going to be visible in the Southern Hemisphere? I'm in Melbourne, Australia.

I view the comet in USA on east coast. The January issue of Sky & Telescope report by Bob King on page 48-49 shows the comet path. It is moving from Corona Borealis into Ursa Minor, passing not far from Polaris, into Camelopardalis in early February. These are northern hemisphere constellations.