Two ZTF comets

[Ross Wilkinson]

I took advantage of the clear sky again last night to revisit comet C/2020 V2 (ZTF), which is now high in Cassiopeia:

That's a stack of 91x 1-minute from the Mx716 camera on my C8 at f/3.5.

This comet is now around 9th magnitude, but there's another "ZTF" comet coming back into view which is significantly brighter - C/2022 E3 (currently around magnitude 6.5):

This image was formed from just 11x 1-minute exposures, which was all I could manage between the trees, as the comet was so low in the North.

But it will be rising very quickly over the coming weeks, so I'll be dusting off my wider-field colour imaging system and trying to remember how to use it...

[Ross Wilkinson]

As last night was clear-ish (but a little misty, I think), I did manage to set up my colour system and catch comet C/2002 E3 as it transited between the trees and the telephone line:

This is a stack of 60x 1-minute from my NEX5R on the 80ED operating at f/4.8.

This comet will be much better-placed over the coming weeks, but I fear that we've already used up all the clear nights for this month.

[Ross Wilkinson]

Comet 2022 E3 is now visible with binoculars from central Bolton - I found it around 7pm last night from the back garden and even managed to detect it later in the evening through an upstairs window.

[Ross Wilkinson]

I've just been out and found it again, in a gap in between the clouds. It's high up now, just to the NE of Polaris.

I was using my old image-intensifier tube, fitted to a 135mm lens. This brought out the green colour - OK everything looks green with this tube (even the sky background).

[Ross Wilkinson]

I've just found it again, now that the cold front has reached us and the clouds have passed away.

It's almost overhead, just North from Capella and quite distinct in my binoculars, despite the very bright moonlight.

[Ross Wilkinson]

After a long run of cloudy evenings prevented me from imaging the comet at its best (or even when it was passing close by Mars), I finally got an opportunity on Sunday night (12th Feb):

This is a stack of 109x 30-sec from my NEX5R on the 80ED operating at f/4.8.

The comet was high up in Taurus, but I had several interruptions due to meridian-flip, hazy cloud and even one of my radio aerials getting in the way - hence the discontinuous star-trails!

I was operating the camera without the usual UHC filter, so my exposures were limited to 30-sec.

[Ross Wilkinson]

I've been playing with Sunday night's data (using Siril and GIMP), to produce this rendition of the comet: