Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF: image at flyby with the Earth and podcast -1 Feb. 2023
We captured images of comet C/2022 E3 ZTF while it was at the minimum distance from the Earth. We also shared to view with people all around the globe, reaching almost 400 thousands of viewers.
Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF at minimum distance from the Earth. 1 Feb. 2023.
The image above comes from the sigma-clipping combination of 30, 60-second exposures, unfiltered, remotely collected with the “Elena” (PlaneWave 17″+Paramount ME+SBIG STL-6303E) robotic unit available at the Virtual Telescope Project. Such a combination technique dramatically reduces the interference of stars on the comet. The telescope tracked the apparent motion of comet C/2022 E3 ZTF, this is why stars left trails on the background. The image was processed to show both the bright region and the faint ion tail at their best. An extremely bright Moon was in the sky.
At the imaging time, comet C/2022 E3 ZTF was at the minimum distance (flyby) from the Earth, about 43 millions of km, and was peaking in brightness (barely visible to the naked eye).
Later that night, we shared live images of the comet, in partnership with Telescope Live. We reached almost 400.000 individuals from all around the globe. The podcast is available below.
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