Comet ZTF

[Hans Tucker (Hans)]

Seems our Northern cousins are being treated to a good Comet event. Perusing the FB Astrophotography pages and the images present of Comet ZTF are impressing. This image making APOD:


https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230109.html

[Dave882 (David)]

Yes I’ve been following this one. I’m looking forward to getting a look mid Feb in the new moon if the weather permits. In the meantime there are some great shots coming from our northern astronomers. Thanks for sharing

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

G'day Hans. As Dave mentioned, Comet ZTF will become visible in our skies from around mid February. In the meantime Comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS is looking good in the constellation of Pavo, currently around 6th magnitude and circumpolar for much of Australia! I observed it last night, well worth a look.

Cheers

[OICURMT]

I've been waiting and waiting for the clouds and snow to break. Lastnight was -24C, currently -19C and snowing at 10am.

It's supposed to warm up and clear out by Tuesday... perfect timing as it's my bday and ZTF will be directly above Polaris at 2214h. Still too cold to spend much time outside, but I'll have my bino's out for a quick view. As for the imaging equipment, unfortunately I torn them down early Winter to get tuned up and reset my obs in a different location, still a work in progress...

[pmrid (Peter)]

Just checking the position and noted that on Feb 11th, the comet will be in a close conjunction with Mars - should make a good image in the same frame for us in SE Qld.

[oska (John)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

Just checking the position and noted that on Feb 11th, the comet will be on a close conjunction with Mars - should make a good image in the same frame for us in SE Qld.

Thanks for the heads up Peter

[By.Jove (Jove)]

I expect Sydney will be clouded out 6th - 11th.

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Hi all! The "Green Comet" 2022 ZTF is now officially visible in our skies! I will have a go at seeing it as it culminates 8° above the horizon here in Perth at 8:30pm tonight. It is below Capella in the constellation Auriga. It will just keep getting higher from here on in ( as well as fainter)

Let us now finally see it for ourselves

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Hi all! Last night I got my first view of C/2022 E3 ZTF. I used my 10 inch dob from my bortle 6 backyard.

Despite being at 18° elevation in the constellation Auriga it appeared bright at low power (70x) and did have a greenish hue in it's coma. I could make out its tail with averted vision. At 343x magnification it's coma appeared slightly elongated. I observed it at 8:30pm WAST.

In the 15 minutes was observing it, it had already moved appreciably. This comet is truly flying! This is the brightest comet I have seen so far through my scope. I encourage you all to get out and take a look at it, it's a beautiful sight!

[Dave882 (David)]

Thanks for the report Joe. I’m looking forward to catching this one as soon as we can get a clear evening

[EpickCrom (Joe)]

Originally Posted by Dave882

Thanks for the report Joe. I’m looking forward to catching this one as soon as we can get a clear evening

Thanks Dave. I hope it clear up for you guys on the east coast soon.

[Shasta55 (Chris)]

Firstly, I'm a newbie using a 102mm achromat.I have made 2 observations from Bortle 3 ( 21.81) skies on the western shore of the Harvey River estuary in WA.

First on 5 Feb 3 deg below Capella. Faint fuzzy speck in 20mm 68 deg eyepiece; very faint light blue fuzzball in 9mm 68 deg eyepiece. Poor conditions very humid, full moon low east.


Second on 7 Feb 6 deg above left of Capella. Good seeing but pretty windy, no moon. Faint pale blue centre and tail in 20mm EP. With 9mm EP coma and tail more visible, no ion trail visible. Still seemed pale blue rather than green. UHC filter made it harder to see. Grateful for any suggestions that might help improve seeing with this scope over the next little bit?

[evltoy (Wayne)]

I was able to do some test images last night. It was sitting at around 22deg north. 90% odd moon with it still below the horizon in a bortle 5 skies in SE vic.

So far doing both 30, 60 & 120sec subs on my 294MC with a uv/ir on a ED120 refractor gave me very disappointing results. This comet is small and travelling very fast. So fast that stacking (dss) is giving me a long trail of the nucleus due to its speed over 30mins.

Comparing this target to my first and successful attempt at comet C/2021A1 Leonard back in Jan 22 on the same camera but on a ED80, this has been a let down for me so far.

If anyone has any tips please let me know

[pmrid (Peter)]

Thanks for that Wayne. I had planned to give it a try tonight (Saturday) to take advantage of a good forecast and a close conjunction with Mars. But having read your experience, I won’t waste the effort.

[The Mekon (John Briggs)]

Last night I told my wife I was going comet chasing. The northern sky is very obscured at our backyard so I had to walk out with a portable rig. Took me a quite a while to spot the faint smudge about 4 degrees north east of Mars. When I got home my wife asked how it was. I said, do you remember years ago when I got the whole neighbourhood out to see Comet McNaught? - well it was nothing like that!

[Graman (GR)]

I had no luck trying to find it yesterday with my 7 x 50 binos or ED120. This is from suburban Syd, so fair bit of light pollution (Bortle 5 or 6 would be my guess).

I will try again tonight as it is closer to Mars and should be easier to locate. I do agree what someone else said on these forums, a lot of hype around ZTF, but not much to see! Leonard put up a better show last year 😉

[evltoy (Wayne)]

Originally Posted by pmrid

Thanks for that Wayne. I had planned to give it a try tonight (Saturday) to take advantage of a good forecast and a close conjunction with Mars. But having read your experience, I won’t waste the effort.

Please do not let my comment discourage you or anyone else from trying. It could be my setup or lack or / basic processing skills.

Saying that, I did attempt last night on the ED80 (30x 120sec) and had better luck. Nothing like what you seeing circulating around, but it was ok.

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

It's not that bright.

Yes it's mag 6 or so but quite big so that light is spread out and the surface brightness is quite low. You really need dark skies. Easy but not spectacular out here Bortle 1/2, in 8x42 binoculars, ED80 refractor and a real treat in my 18" reflector.

Joe

[MortonH]

I've seen it from Orange the last couple of nights. Sky about Bortle 4. Only had a 66mm ED refractor available so not spectacular but quite pleasing.

[Rainmaker (Matt)]

We showed that little smudge to about 1000 visitors to Mt Stromlo on Friday night. I counted over three hundred people viewing it in my Excalibur.