Comet C/2020 V2 (ZTF)

[Ross Wilkinson]

I first spotted this comet back in March, since when it's been moving very slowly through Ursa Major. Last night it was quite close to the star Dubhe (one of the "pointers" to the Pole-star), so low down in the North.

This is a stack of 125x 1-min exposures from my Mx716 camera on the C8 operating at f/3.5. The gap in the star-trails is due to a "meridian-flip".

[Ross Wilkinson]

I had another look at this comet last night - it's brighter now (although still only magnitude 10) and higher in the sky (not far from Polaris)

This is a stack of 63x 1-min exposures from my Mx716 camera on the C8 operating at f/3.5.

I have observed thirteen different comets during 2022 (only one of which I'd seen before), which is a new record for me - but none have been brighter than 9th magnitude.