Physics Photo of the Week

Physics Photo of the Week

January 30, 2023

Update on Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Photos by Donald Collins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The comet featured on Jan 20 PPOW has become brighter.  The photo above was taken on January 27, 2023 using a DSLR color camera mounted on a tripod.  The dusty tail appears greenish due to the sunlight scattering off the small dust particles that are blown away from the comet.

The comet was still not visible to the naked eye, but a time exposure with a normal lens on a DSLR camera barely shows the comet.  The image on the right shows a wide-angle photo of the Big Dipper on the right side of the photo.  The pointer stars point to Polaris, the North Star.   The comet last Friday was in the location of the circle, but barely visible in the photo.

The original wide-angle image above was zoomed in by cropping with the computer and shown at left.  This clearly shows the comet that resembles a fuzzy star in the center.  This is similar to a view with binoculars, but the binocular view was barely discernible.  The digital camera used a time exposure of 30 seconds - we can't do that with our eyes!

Finally the last image shows an animated clip taken with the monochrome CCD camera looking through the 14 inch telescope.  The time lapse for the six images spanned about 11.3 minutes.  It is moving quickly!  The orientation of the comet's tail appears differently in the animation from the top photo because  the telescope is oriented with the celestial (top is celestial north - toward polaris).  The tripod photo (top photo) is oriented so the top of the photo points to the zenith, not the North Star.  The North Star is not at the zenith!

If you attempt to find the comet yourself in the next week or so, remember that the comet will not be in the same place.  You must use the dates shown on the skymap on the previous blog post.  After Feb 1 you may use a skymap showing the comet's path at the site: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/

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  Physics Photo of the Week is published weekly during the academic year on Fridays by the Warren Wilson College Physics Department. These photos feature interesting phenomena in the world around us.  Students, faculty, and others are invited to submit digital (or film) photographs for publication and explanation. Atmospheric phenomena are especially welcome. Please send any photos to dcollins@warren-wilson.edu.

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