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A guide to Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) (Updated) [1]

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Date: 2023-01-26

Here is a sky map that shows where to look for comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) during evening hours in the next 5 days and beyond. Essentially, face North, look for the Big Dipper, then find the North Star and look for the comet in between, based on the map below. The M-shaped Cassiopeia constellation is also easy to find.

x Comet ZTF is NOT Streaking Across the Sky (But it's Still Pretty Cool) https://t.co/obOByxSJ2C A lot of wild things are being said about this comet. We'll get the facts straight and help you find it in binoculars. pic.twitter.com/phxvKrBwsL — Bob King (@AstroBob_bk) January 16, 2023

The comet is currently higher in the sky during the pre-dawn hours (rotate the sky image below counter-clock-wise by about 90 degrees around the North Star to visualize the pre-dawn sky facing North). It will continue to get higher during the evening hours and lower in the pre-dawn skies in the next 2 weeks. Overnight, the stars will rotate counter-clockwise around the North Star.

You can also use this website theskylive.com/… to locate the comet from any city and for any date/time. In the display, α UMi (Ursae Minoris) is the North Star; the stars of UMa (Ursa Major) form the Big Dipper.

See skyandtelescope.org/… for the best times to watch the comet, given that the moon will interfere with observations on certain nights.

x How big is the comet? I hear you ask.

Here's The Moon taken tonight with the same setup. pic.twitter.com/LnCPLFmX3C — Dave Eagle FRAS 🔭 Keep Looking Up. (@Dave_StarGeezer) January 24, 2023

Brightness

Here is a light curve chart from astro.vanbuitenen.nl/… showing magnitude (brightness) values of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). This graph predicts a magnitude value of around 5 on Feb 1, at closest approach to earth.

Objects with lower magnitude values are brighter. The human eye can detect objects with magnitude < 6. With a good pair of 10x50 binoculars, one can observe objects 5 mags fainter.

Images

x C/2022 E3 (ZTF) 2023 jan 25. 1.00 UT 1x110sec 11" RASA QHY600 and 1x240sec Leica-Apo-Telyt Nikon Z50mod Michael Jäger pic.twitter.com/j6HQzYPkSf — Michael Jäger (@Komet123Jager) January 25, 2023

x 90 minutes of motion from #comet C/2022 E3 ZTF last night (20-Jan-2023 / #Northumberland ). Approximately 75 million km and closing! The narrow ion tail and broader dust tail are visible. RedCat 51 / ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera. pic.twitter.com/6bE7TvguVc — Dr Adrian Jannetta 🖩🔭🌒🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@AdrianJannetta) January 20, 2023

The comet is visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions.

Strong solar wind from a coronal mass ejection on Jan 17 caused a disconnection event of the ion tail of the comet, making it appear broken. www.space.com/...

x C/2022 E3 jan 20 00.50-2.40 UT 11"/2.2 M. Jäger pic.twitter.com/axoJX8m41f — Michael Jäger (@Komet123Jager) January 21, 2023

It is now sporting an anti-tail. The anti-tail is an optical illusion as we look through the fan-shaped dust tail.

x #Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF taken with the RedCat and ZWO ASI533MC Pro camera last night (22-Jan at about 0030UT). 15x120s. Now showing a dust tail, ion tail and anti-tail. The comet was 68 million km / 42 million miles from Earth (and closing!) #Northumberland pic.twitter.com/RJ2aRmLVAi — Dr Adrian Jannetta 🖩🔭🌒🇬🇧🇪🇺 (@AdrianJannetta) January 22, 2023

See spaceweathergallery2.com/… for more images.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Info

This will be the location of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) relative to objects in the solar system during its closest approach to Earth on Feb 1. Note that the comet has stayed outside Earth’s orbit during this flyby. ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/... Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be traveling at ~206,640 km/h relative to earth (140,760 km/h relative to the Sun) on Feb 1.

The comet’s closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) was on Jan 12.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) last swung by the sun about 50,000 years ago and may not appear again, certainly not in our lifetimes. Its farthest distance (aphelion) is estimated at 2,800 AU (420 billion km) somewhere in the Oort cloud (1 AU = 150 million km = mean Sun-Earth distance).

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered on March 2, 2022 by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey at the Palomar Observatory in California. At that time, the comet had an apparent magnitude of 17.3 and was about 4.3 AU from the Sun.

About comet tails and comet colors

Like other comets, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has a dust tail trailing behind the comet and a glowing ion tail, formed from gases ionized by UV radiation, pointing away from the sun.

The ion tail tends to be long and narrow and blue in color. The ion tail shines through fluorescence, as the dominant CO+ molecule absorbs sunlight which it then re-emits at the blue 420 nanometer wavelength.

The green color seen in the coma of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and other comets, but not in their tails, is due to emissions from Diatomic carbon (aka dicarbon) molecules.

Sunlight heats the comet’s ice and organic material to produce C2 molecules, which break apart in ~2 days before they reach the tail. C2 is excited by solar UV radiation and emits mostly in infrared but its triplet state radiates at 518 nm. physicstoday.scitation.org/…

From www.pnas.org/… — "This work shows that, to break the quadruple bond of C2 using sunlight, the molecule must absorb two photons and undergo two “forbidden” transitions."

A poem generated by ChatGTP

Oh comet C/2022 E3, thou celestial wonder,

Thy fiery trail doth streak across the skies,

A messenger of fate, from worlds asunder,

Thy beauty doth outshine the stars' bright eyes.

Thy journey's long, through space's vast expanse,

And though thou art not constant to our gaze,

Thy visit doth a momentary chance,

For those who seek thy secrets to amaze.

Oh comet, though thy path doth seem so strange,

And though thy light doth fade, thy tale's not done,

For in thy tail, a history doth range,

Of mysteries, yet to be known, begun.

Oh comet C/2022 E3, thy tale doth show,

The vastness of the universe, and its aglow.

Amazing!

Epilogue

I hope many of us will get a chance to observe this one-in-many-lifetimes comet; it will all depend on the amount of light pollution in the area and the weather. If not, there are plenty more where they come from.

If any of you have taken pictures of the comet, we would love to see them posted in the comments below.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/26/2148698/-A-guide-to-Comet-C-2022-E3-ZTF

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