While we are anticipating the views of C/2022E3 in December and January
coming, it might be worth considering similar anticipation of another
comet that appeared almost 50 years ago also in the same winter months,
Comet C/1973E1 Kohoutek. Whilst this comet was deemed to be a
disapointment by many casual comet observers, it was well observed and
was actually a medium bright comet. I have been copying some plates
taken by the BAA comet observer R.L.Waterfield and attached is a plate
taken by him with a 6 inch Cooke triplet lens f/4.5 on an OaO emulsion
which shows the extent of the tail: details of the plate are :
Calibration
Center (RA, Dec): (335.094, -5.435)
Center (RA, hms): 22h 20m 22.595s
Center (Dec, dms): -05° 26' 04.585"
Size: 14.3 x 9.84 deg
Radius: 8.660 deg
Pixel scale: 19.2 arcsec/pixel
north up
It is also worth noting that experienced visual observers were able to
see extensive and complex structure in the tail, attached is a drawing
made by the famous comet and nova discoverer G.E.D.Alcock. More drawings
and imaged of this comet can be seen at this BAA link
:https://britastro.org/cometobs/1973e1/thumbnails.html