01/24/2026
Comet “C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” is a previously unknown non-periodic comet that was discovered March 2, 2022 by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in Mount Palomar, California. The comet was originally thought to be an asteroid but as it drew closer to the sun, it began to reveal its tell-tale dust trails and its status was later changed to a bona fide comet.
The comet’s nucleus was estimated to be about a mile wide and it produced increasingly striking dual tails as it passed nearer to the sun. The shorter but wider fan-shaped dust tail on the bottom right was due to dust and debris particles released from the comet’s nucleus. The narrower and much longer (and fainter) ion tail on top consists of various gasses ionized by the sun’s radiation, and it extended millions of miles in length.
One feature that made this comet unique is the bright green-blue glow around its nucleus, which is due to the effect of ultraviolet radiation from the sun breaking down high concentrations of diatomic carbon molecules within the comet’s head. This green-blue coma intensified as the comet reached is perihelion (closest distance to the sun) of 103 million miles in January of 2023 and subsequently provided astronomers and star gazers with striking visual and photographic opportunities.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) made its closest approach to Earth on February 1, 2023 at a mere distance of 26 million miles. As of this posting, the comet is now currently about a billion miles away and is no longer visible from Earth. While it will eventually leave our solar system, astronomers estimate it won’t return for many millions of years, if at all, based on its current trajectory and speed.
I captured this image back in February of 2023 but was limited to a very short total exposure time due to perpetual clouds and bad weather. This image represents only 29 total minutes of 60 second exposures so the detail is not that great and the background is pretty noisy (longer total integration time = better quality and cleaner images). At least I was able to capture what I did. I really didn’t feel like waiting a few more million years to try again!
TECH CARD FOR NERDS
Stellarvue SVX102T Triplet Telescope (reduced to 535mm)
iOptron CEM70 Equatorial Tracking Mount
ASI2600mm mono Astro Camera
Astronomik Deep Sky RGB-L Filters
29 Minutes Total Exposure Time
NINA, PHD2, Astro Pixel Processor, Photoshop, Siril
