Observation by Nick James: C/2022 E3 (ZTF) ion tail motion

Uploaded by

Nick James

Observer

Nick James

Observed

2023 Jan 18 - 05:21

Uploaded

2023 Jan 18 - 05:29

Objects

C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Equipment

ASI6200MM + Celestron HD11

Exposure

7x10x60s

Location

Chelmsford, UK

Target name

C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Title

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) ion tail motion

About this image

This timelapse is tracked on the comet's motion and consists of 7 frames of duration approximately 11 minutes each. It shows that features in the faint ion tail move relative to the head. In particular there are some clumps of material moving rapidly down the tail. This is why long stacks which attempt to bring out the ion tail tend not to show much fine detail. The features are smeared out by their motion relative to the comet's nucleus. Short exposures show that details in the ion tail change in very short timescales.

I actually saw the comet this morning using 11x80B. It was a very easy object even from my light-polluted location although it only looked like a largish, fuzzy blob.

Files associated with this observation

2022e3_20230118_ndj.gif (4.3 MB)

Like this image

Gerard Cauchi, Bill Leatherbarrow, Mike Harlow, Mattia Piccoli, Nick Hewitt, Ron Johnson, Robin Leadbeater, Simon Kidd, Jeremy Shears, Peter Tickner, Mazin Younis, Mark Fairfax, Manolo_Rodriguez, Graham Winstanley, David Basey, James Weightman, Peter Carson, Geof Lewis

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