[Michael Piziak]

"A stunning green comet will be visible from Earth in the coming days, even with the naked eye, giving photographers an opportunity to capture the comet that won’t appear again for another 50,000 years."

https://petapixel.com/2023/01/20/how-to-spot-and-photograph-the-green-comet-...sing-by-earth/

[Aaron28]

outta be cool....hopefully catch it.......lovejoy a few years back was green.....only comet i have caught on camera

[HanSoloYakamoto]

Guess I better start practicing my astro-photography!

[Michael Piziak]

Yeh, it's too cloudy tonight, in my region. But it's suppose to be viewable through Feb. 2, so we'll all get chances to see it (in the Northern hemisphere that is...)

[photoptimist]

Currently the comet is still pretty dim -- at magnitude 6 it is barely visible to the human eye under good dark sky conditions. It should get much brighter and bigger by Feb 2.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) | TheSkyLive.com has basic info on the current status of the comet (and can be customized for your location).

https://cobs.si has recent data on observations of this comet and others.

Both these sites would be good to book mark for future comets.

[stephanelli]

How exciting! I have absolutely no experience in astrophotography, although its on my wishlist of things to learn how to do (any recommended tutorials or videos welcome!)! Thanks for all the links shared here

[Nakedgun]

"A stunning green comet will be visible from Earth in the coming days, even with the naked eye, giving photographers an opportunity to capture the comet that won’t appear again for another 50,000 years."

https://petapixel.com/2023/01/20/how-to-spot-and-photograph-the-green-comet-...sing-by-earth/

~

Brrr...too cold out. I'll wait for the next flyby.



.

[Michael Piziak]

~

Brrr...too cold out. I'll wait for the next flyby.



.

yeh, should be warmer in 50,000 years when it returns....LOL

[photoptimist]

~

Brrr...too cold out. I'll wait for the next flyby.



.

LOL!

Alas, this comet probably will not return for at least a million years and may never return. Although the inbound orbit of this comet was on a 50,000 year cycle, it seems Jupiter may have tweaked the comet's orbit on this pass. The comet might now escape the sun's gravity entirely or, at best, be gone for more than a million years(https://www.adlerplanetarium.org/blog/does-comet-c-2022-e3-ztf-have-a-hyperb...00-year-orbit/).


Now whether it's worth frostbite to see a faint fuzzy green patch of mold on the celestial sphere is a personal preference. ;-)

[mikeSF]

Well, I took a crack at it on Friday night. I was never able to see it with the unaided eye, so I ended up shooting a series of tiled frames along a grid pattern until I found it in a frame. Never got it in great focus either, but here's what I got.



Comet C/2022 E3 ZTR

Details are in the flickr narrative.
I was shooting from a Bortle 2 sky, btw

[Michael Piziak]

Well, I took a crack at it on Friday night. I was never able to see it with the unaided eye, so I ended up shooting a series of tiled frames along a grid pattern until I found it in a frame. Never got it in great focus either, but here's what I got.

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTR | Say hello to Comet C/2022 E3 ZTR, the ? | Flickr

That's a good capture I think!

What tips can you, and others, give us for taking photos of it.

In the article it suggests:


"Open the aperture on your lens as wide as it will go and set your ISO according to how dark the sky is. Shutter speed is tricky because too long and you’ll get star trails, too short and it will be too dark. 15 seconds is a good time, but ... "


I patiently await a clear night sky....

[c.a.m]

Well, I took a crack at it on Friday night.

Gotta admire your dedication, Mike. Looks like you were successful!

I'm not a regular astrophotographer, though Neowise was an easy shot in 2020.

- Craig

[Nakedgun]

~

Brrr...too cold out. I'll wait for the next flyby.



.

~

OK, so I went outside 0330hrs this morning with 10x50s to get a glimpse of this thing, and decided I better get a shot.

Here's my DSLR-on-tripod (I don't do astrophotography, thank you very much) photo.



K-3ii & D FA 150-450


I also set up a telescope and even at a low 67x I could see it had moved against the background stars after ~10 minutes. Over the next ten days it will be appear to increase velocity as it plunges through the ecliptic plain, and movement should be visible in real time through a telescope. That will be fun.



.

[photoptimist]

~

OK, so I went outside 0330hrs this morning with 10x50s to get a glimpse of this thing, and decided I better get a shot.

Here's my DSLR-on-tripod (I don't do astrophotography, thank you very much) photo.


Attachment 594962
K-3ii & D FA 150-450


I also set up a telescope and even at a low 67x I could see it had moved against the background stars after ~10 minutes. Over the next ten days it will be appear to increase velocity as it plunges through the ecliptic plain, and movement should be visible in real time through a telescope. That will be fun.



.

Nice shot!

Any chance you can share the focal length (I'm guessing 450) as well as the shutter speed, aperture, and ISO setting?

[mikeSF]

With my longest lens, I could not exceed 3 sec exposures to prevent trailing. So I cranked ISO to 16,000 and shot several frames that I fed into Sequator (freeware). This aligned all the stars and allowed for some mathematical noise reduction. You could also do this manually with a median blend, but it takes longer to align the frames.

I was never able to achieve sharp focus at capture, so The compositing of multiple frames continued to degrade the detail.

That's a good capture I think!

What tips can you, and others, give us for taking photos of it.

In the article it suggests:


"Open the aperture on your lens as wide as it will go and set your ISO according to how dark the sky is. Shutter speed is tricky because too long and you’ll get star trails, too short and it will be too dark. 15 seconds is a good time, but ... "


I patiently await a clear night sky....