Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF on 02/04/2023

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF on

02/04/2023 from 03:30 UT to 04:58 UT.

Tracking on the Comet’s Nucleus, Green Coma, Ion & Dust Tails are all visible in this image.

The comet nucleus was estimated to be about a kilometer in size, rotating every 8.7 hours.

Its tails of dust and gas extended for millions of km. The Comet was 45 million kilometers from Earth at the time of my capture.

The comet last visited our inner solar system over 50,000 years ago, so now is your only chance to get out and see this one in binoculars or a telescope. We finally got a clear night after nearly a month of clouds/rain/ snowy weather.

I found it in binoculars last night, despite the bright nearly Full Moon and shared the view with my fellow MVAS Astronomy club member Greg, while we both felt we were freezing to death as the temp drop down to 5F at JBSPO.