The image shows a close-up view of Comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF) during 22th January 2023. Besides featuring a wonderful greenish coma from glowing carbon gas the image reveals a rare anti-tail due the fact that planet Earth was crossing the orbital plane of Comet ZTF showing the tail in perspective and immersed in a colorful starfield. The comet was photographed late in the night at a distance of 67 million Km from Dark Sky® Alqueva Observatory in Portugal. This long distance traveller not seen in 50,000 years, is moving fast against the background starry sky, and that night it was located close to constellation Draco, showing a faint visual magnitude of +6.3. On 1st February the Comet it will be in the closest point to our planet and eventually until then, it could reach a naked eye magnitude.
Photographer's website:
No comments:
Post a Comment