Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th January 2023
I suggested trying to find comet C/2022 E3 ZTF with your telescope or binoculars on Christmas morning, when it would be located within the constellation of Corona Borealis. It will actually be possible to see the comet throughout the whole of January and as the days go by, it will appear to move from the edge of Corona Borealis towards Ursa Minor and progressively become brighter.
The optimum viewing will be during the night of 27th / 28th January, when the comet will be fairly close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor and its magnitude will be around +4.8, so potentially even visible with the naked eye from a dark sky location. As a bonus that night, the Moon sets a little after midnight so there will be no light pollution from that source.
I have provided diagrams showing the comet's position through the month, courtesy of Pete Lawrence and Sky At Night Magazine.
The evening of 27th January is also the date for the first of this year's talks and star parties I am holding at the Ham Hill Visitor Centre, so assuming the skies are clear and we can venture outside, after we have looked at the usual favourite targets of the Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades open cluster and Great Orion Nebula, then we might be able to go comet-hunting!
The second of those talks will be on February 17th and places for either of the events can be booked through the www.visitsouthsomerset.com website.
Screenshots courtesy of Stellarium
Copyright Adrian Dening and Radio Ninesprings 2022
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