Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
Constellation: Corona Borealis (Dec 26, 2022) and Taurus (Jan 25, 2023)
Comet C/2022 E3 was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on 2 March 2022. The comet will reach its perihelion on January 12, 2023, at a distance of 1.11 AU (166 million km) and the closest approach to Earth will be on February 1, 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km). The comet is expected to get brighter than magnitude 6 and thus become visible with naked eye. Between February 10 and 12, it will come close to Mars (about 1 deg). Link to more details.
Date:
The first image was taken on December 26, 2022 at 03:27.
The second image was taken on January 25, 2023 between 00:49 and 02:58:09 CET.
Telescope & Mount:
Celestron 9.25″ EdgeHD with Hyperstar 4.0 on a 10Micron GM1000HPS mount.
Imaging:
Camera: ASI2600MC-Pro (bin 1×1)
Data:
Image1: Optolong L-eNhance: 5x240s; total integration time: 20′
Image2: Optolong L-eNhance: 118x60s, total integration time: 1h 58′
Between February 10 and 12, it will come close to Mars (about 1 deg). It will however not be observable from Europe at the time of closest approach due to daylight. The comet and Mars will be in the constellation of Taurus, near the molecular cloud Barnard 220, north of tau Taurus. Link to interactive sky chart.
Image taken on February 11 at 00:00:10 UTC.