Comet ZTF E3
in the evening sky
1/21/23

 
 Now
            just visible to the unaided eye in the north east at around 3am,
            this comet is now moving to a closer encounter with the Earth
            on February 1st, and in a few days the Earth will pass into the
            orbital plane of the comet. Thus the comet currently displays
            3 tails, the ray like gas tail on the left, the yellow dust tail
            pointing to lower left, and the anti tail pointing to the right.
            A parabolic envelope is now formed around the nucleus.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1400 x 1200
            


Lens:  10" f/2.9 Orion Astrograph Newtonian
Platform:  Astrophysics AP1200
Camera:  CMOS OSC cooled
Exposure:  58mins
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  3/10, Transparency 7/10
Outside Temperature:  22F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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