2020v2 20230212 dbartlett

10th Magnitude Comet C/2020 V2 (ZTF) Showing 2 Tails, 2023-02-12

I knew this comet has been hovering around 10th magnitude for a while.  It has had a teardrop shape with a developing coma over the past few months.  I just got around to processing the data and a surprise of  a "V" shape (pun intended), with the addition of a fully formed plasma tail.  Why the surprise?  This comet is nearly 2.5 A.U. from the sun and the Earth and I hadn't seen it before to this extent.

Nice for a new look.

In Astrobin, seen here, I've saved as "revisions" a first run comet-only integration prior to full processing, normal and inverted color images.  This hints as to the nature of the tails a little better than the final processed image.

I had let the data "sit" for a while since my center focus has been on the other ZTF.
???????Dan

Observational details:
Backyard setup
scope: C11 RASA D = 279mm; fl =618mm; F# 2.2
camera: asi 2600mcP
exposure: 24 x120 sec
Seeing: 4/5
Transparency: 9/10
Observer: DEBartlett
Location: June Lake, California, USA

Image Details(ALL):
WCS transformation ....... Linear
Projection ............... Gnomonic
Projection origin ........ [1065.000000 952.499997] px -> [RA:  1 36 31.158  Dec: +49 08 22.85]
Resolution ............... 2.504 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. -0.902 deg
Reference system ......... ICRS
Observation start time ... 2023-02-13 04:06:08 UTC
Observation end time ..... 2023-02-13 04:09:08 UTC
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W  37 46 30 N  2357 m
Focal distance ........... 619.38 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.52 um
Field of view ............ 1d 28' 54.1" x 1d 19' 30.7"
Image center ............. RA:  1 36 31.158  Dec: +49 08 22.85
Image bounds:
   top-left .............. RA:  1 41 02.744  Dec: +49 48 30.01
   top-right ............. RA:  1 31 51.890  Dec: +49 47 04.12
   bottom-left ........... RA:  1 41 03.189  Dec: +48 29 00.58
   bottom-right .......... RA:  1 32 06.859  Dec: +48 27 36.94