The comet C/2022 E3 ZTF with a shooting star!
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On January 29, 2023, I had the chance to photograph it while the Moon was not yet too strong and when it was close to its maximum brightness during its passage close to the Earth, on February 1. After having traveled 200km to find a more favorable weather, I was able to put 2 telescopes here, in the north of France, and photograph about 4 hours in total (2h per setups). A very hard night to stay awake until 5am by -5 °C. I could admire the comet with the naked eye quite easily once the moon was down.
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We can notice very easily the 3 different tails of the comet: the tail of ionized gas is the longest and the most detailed here. It is several tens of millions of kilometers long and covers almost half of my full frame sensor! The second one, more diffuse, is located on the same direction as the first one. It contains a lot of dust that escapes from the comet. Finally, the third one, often called the "anti-tail", is opposite to the 2 others and allows to know the direction in which the comet goes. It is also a residue of dust that the comet has left behind.
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Photographing this comet for several hours was a real challenge because it moves very fast, so I had no right to make mistakes. The image I present here contains some defects because the dithering is almost impossible which induces some walking noise. I am very happy to have been able to obtain such details on this comet, it is very rare to see the tail so developed at 135mm! And what a surprise to see a shooting star passing right next to the comet! It was a great chance to capture this, putting in perspective a small gravel passing a few tens of kilometers above the ground and a comet tens of millions of kilometers away from us.
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EXIF :
- Canon France EOS R(a)
- Samyang France 135mm f/2
- Sky Watcher Star Adventurer GTi
- 105*60s ISO1600 f/2
- Pixinsight & Photoshop
- Moon at 53%
- Bortle 4 (SQM 20.08 while the moon was not yet set)