{"id":39397,"date":"2022-12-06T13:40:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T13:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyatnightmagazine.com\/?p=114407"},"modified":"2022-12-06T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T14:09:56","slug":"comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january\/","title":{"rendered":"Comet C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) could be spectacular in December and January"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Stuart Atkinson\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

At the moment, Mars is definitely stealing the show, a bright red \u2018star\u2019 visible in the night sky throughout December.<\/p>\n

But many amateur astronomers are already looking forward to something set to be visible in the sky early in 2023: a comet<\/a> that, if it behaves itself, might become the first naked-eye comet since Comet NEOWISE<\/a> delighted us all a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long period comet<\/a> that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility<\/a> (hence the catchy name \u2018ZTF\u2019) on 2 March 2022, using the 1.2-m, f\/2.4 Schmidt telescope at Mount Palomar.<\/p>\n

When it was discovered it was just a tiny, 17th magnitude smudge in Aquila<\/a>, five times further from the Sun than Earth.<\/p>\n

When astronomers crunched the numbers they found comet C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) would reach perihelion \u2013 its closest point to the Sun \u2013 \u00a0on 12 January 2023 and would then make a close approach to the Earth in early February 2023, when it might<\/em> reach 6th magnitude.<\/p>\n

Will C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) be as bright as NEOWISE?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Steve Lewis managed to spot Comet NEOWISE over Stonehenge in the early hours of 22 July 2020 and photographed it using a Nikon D810 DSLR and Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens @ f2.8. Credit: Steve Lewis<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

It\u2019s important to say straight from the start that C\/2022 E3 (ZTF)\u00a0 will not<\/em> repeat the memorable show NEOWISE gave us.<\/p>\n

If it does reach a magnitude between +5 and +6 as comet observers are hoping \u2013 and that\u2019s by no means guaranteed \u2013 it will probably only be visible without help from binoculars or a telescope from a dark-sky site, away from light pollution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A long misty NEOWISE-like tail is unlikely too.<\/p>\n

Instead C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) will more likely look like a smudge in the sky, like someone has dipped their finger in chalk dust and dabbed it on a blackboard.<\/p>\n

Having said that, E3 will be high in the northern sky when it\u2019s at its best, and will be moving quickly too as it drifts past Polaris, the North Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So even if it doesn\u2019t dazzle us with a banner-like tail, Comet C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) will still be well worth looking for.<\/p>\n

And who knows, it might have a surprise or two in store for us.<\/p>\n

Where is C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) at the moment?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Chart showing the location of Comet C\/2022 E3 ZTF in January 2023. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Having been visible in the evening sky through late summer and autumn, E3 is, as of early December, now a morning object for northern observers, visible in the hours before dawn as a tiny 9th magnitude smudge through telescopes, close to the border between Serpens and Corona Borealis.<\/p>\n

Long exposure photos taken through telescopes show it has a condensed head, a short but noticeably curved dust tail and a very fine, straight gas tail.<\/p>\n

Later in December, C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) will drift up into Corona, and then work its way slowly through the Northern Crown through Christmas and into the New Year.<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Chart showing the location of Comet C\/2022 E3 ZTF in Ursa Minor in late January 2023. Credit: Pete Lawrence<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

After that it will begin to pick up speed, and brighten, and by mid-January 2023 C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) will have crossed into northern Bootes, en-route to its \u2018fly-by\u2019 of Polaris in Ursa Minor at the end of January.<\/p>\n

Then is should be visible in the northern sky all night and probably moving fast enough for its motion to be seen through binoculars.<\/p>\n

How bright will C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) get?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Comet chaser Jos\u00e9 J. Chamb\u00f3 captured this image of Comet\u00a0C\/2022\u00a0E3\u00a0(ZTF) on 2 September 2022 from Valles, Valencia, Spain. The comet can be seen in conjunction with blue star 23 Herculis (mag. +6.4). Equipment: Atik 383L+ camera, TS-Photon 8\u2033 N f\/3.6<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cHow bright will Comet C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) be?!\u201d is the obvious question. The answer is \u2013 we don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Predicting the brightness of comets is never a good idea. Like newspaper horoscopes the predictions very rarely come true.<\/p>\n

And it has been said famously that comets are like cats \u2013 they have tails and do exactly what they want.<\/p>\n

But, if C\/2022 E3 (ZTF) doesn\u2019t \u2018do an ISON\u2019 and sputter out like a damp firework, it could be visible to the naked eye from a dark sky site in the early part of 2023, and binoculars should show it well.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll just have to wait and see!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly something to look forward to in early 2023.<\/p>\n

Check back on this page in January.\u00a0We\u2019ll keep you updated regularly on the comet\u2019s progress and make sure you know when and where\u00a0 to look for it.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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By Stuart Atkinson Published: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 at 12:00 am At the moment, Mars is definitely stealing the show, a bright red \u2018star\u2019 visible in the night sky throughout December. But many amateur astronomers are already looking forward to something set to be visible in the sky early in 2023: a comet that, if […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":39398,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/12\/comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-could-be-spectacular-in-december-and-january.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Stuart Atkinson Published: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 at 12:00 am At the moment, Mars is definitely stealing the show, a bright red \u2018star\u2019 visible in the night sky throughout December. But many amateur astronomers are already looking forward to something set to be visible in the sky early in 2023: a comet that, if…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/39397"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}