Hello all,

Imaged C/2022 E3 last night with my 8 in RASA (midpoint 2023-01-28T19:12)

https://britastro.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Group4.png

Integrated brightness 5.5 and coma diameter 20.8' by Comphot

David

________________________________________
From: baa-comet@simplelists.com <baa-comet@simplelists.com> on behalf of Andrew Robertson <andrew@fast-mail.net>
Sent: 28 January 2023 08:15
To: baa-comet@simplelists.com
Subject: RE: [BAA Comets] Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) this morning

Cheers Peter,

I have thought of bringing the big bins to one of the  star parties but it would be at the expense of a big dob. The bins are not the problem, it’s the mount needed for them.

Nick, re the tails swinging around, from yours and Pete’s images less than two days apart I note a reasonable change in the angle between the ion tail and the anti-tail.

Andrew

From: baa-comet@simplelists.com [mailto:baa-comet@simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Peter Carson
Sent: 28 January 2023 15:21
To: baa-comet@simplelists.com
Subject: RE: [BAA Comets] Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) this morning

Hi Andrew,

Great to read your account from last night.

It’s reassuring to see my visual observation generally agrees with yours. You were obviously seeing more than me which is be expected with those huge 28 x110’s.
Although this comet is not as spectacular as C/2020F3 (NEOWISE) it is well placed and worth making the effort to observe visually and by imaging.

You’ll have to bring the large bino’s to Haw Wood or Kelling for me to have a look through.

Hi Nick,

My total mag measurement on Thursday 26th gave 5.6 using my 315mm remote telescope. It’s brightness has been creeping up as shown on the attached plot of my measurements since April last year.

All the best
Peter

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows

From: Nick James<mailto:ndj@nickdjames.com>
Sent: 28 January 2023 07:52
To: baa-comet@simplelists.com<mailto:baa-comet@simplelists.com>
Subject: Re: [BAA Comets] Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) this morning

Hi Andrew/Peter,

Thanks for your reports. The widefield image shows the long ion tail
nicely and Andrew's visual report gives a good description of what this
object looks like in binoculars.

I also took the opportunity to image the comet last night (Jan 27). It
clouded over in Chelmsford around 10pm but I had a session of around an
hour in moderately clear skies although there was always drifting high
cloud and the moon was a problem. I'm using a 72mm, f/4.8 refractor and
an ASI294MC camera for widefield. I got a total mag of 5.4 from the
green channel of my image and a coma diameter of around 23 arcmin. A
forked ion tail is faintly visible to the west extending out of the
image field of view.

The image is on the BAA website:

https://britastro.org/observations/observation.php?id=20230128_073836_4403751768d3944b

It is interesting to compare our observations with Gideon van Buitenen's
excellent simulation here:

http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/resources/C2022E3_simulation.gif

The tails are just about to swing around very rapidly from our point of
view.

Nick.

On 28/01/2023 00:22, Andrew Robertson wrote:
> Hi Peter and all,
>
>
>
> I managed what is likely to be my final view this evening. I knew the moon would be in the way but the forecasts were suggesting total cloud cover by about midnight with no further clear spells forecast until a very bright moon is in the way even in the early hours so it was tonight or nothing else. I got going about 10:30 pm when the moon was just below 15 degrees altitude and hidden behind trees so it wasn’t affecting my views much. I reckon I could just detect it N/E averted vision. I also knew where to look but I reckon it was just detectable (observing from South Norfolk.) I put the 7x50 bins straight on it and it was prominent in those. Next was the big 28x110 Helios binoculars with a tad over a 2 degree FOV. It was impressive in these. It was a large elongated fuzz, obvious to about a ¼ of a degree in length and about half as wide, say 7’ with a bright tiny core. I could detect a very tenuous elongation of the tail up to about half a degree or just under. It was about 45 degs altitude so in a good clear sky.
>
>
>
> I didn’t have long on it before bits of thin cloud started coming over it and by about 11pm I was finished – total cloud cover. Brief but very enjoyable.
>
>
>
> Andrew

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