![]() ![]() Its brightest star, Alpha Columbae or Phact, is magnitude 2.6. See the constellation chart in the center of the February Sky & Telescope. Dimmer Fornax the Furnace, to Eridanus's lower right, is almost as big as Orion! Even the main pattern of Lepus, the Hare cowering under the Hunter's feet, isn't much smaller than he is.ĭo you know the constellation down below Lepus? It's a tough one: Columba the Dove, faint, sprawly, and to my eye not a bit dove-like. The biggest of these is Eridanus the River to his west, enormous but hard to trace. Orion is the brightest of the 88 constellations, but his main pattern is surprisingly small compared to some of his dimmer neighbors. ■ Orion is high in the southeast right after dark, and he stands highest due south around 9 p.m. Then a good moonless window begins opening in the early evening around February 7th, with the comet now fading as it crosses Auriga. Bright moonlight will flood the sky all night from the nights of February 1-2 or 2-3 through 6-7. This your last chance for a moonlight-free view for a week. The waxing gibbous Moon sets only about an hour before the first light of dawn. I wish more of the news media knew to say this.Īs of Tuesday night January 31 - February 1, Comet ZTF is about 16° from Polaris. Remember, cameras these days can far surpass the human eye, especially in the hands of astrophotographers who how to use them well, such as by stacking many long exposures (described in the February Sky & Telescope, page 55). I saw no trace of it to the naked eye in this typical mediocre sky. Not sure if the hint of green was my imagination. On the night of the 27th it appeared as a mostly shapeless, diffuse little fuzzy patch among the stars, with little or no concentration toward its middle. The comet is pretty easy in my 10x50 binoculars even through suburban light pollution once the Moon sets. On the chart, the dates on the comet's track are for o h Universal Time, which in North America falls on the evening of the previous date. See Bob King's article Circumpolar Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is Here! It has the finder chart you need. (Hint: The end of its long handle is Polaris, the North Star, due north.) It's in reach of binoculars even through a fairly light-polluted sky - if you have a chart that pinpoints the changing location to examine each night, and if you can find the mostly dim Little Dipper to start from. In dark, moonless skies people who know exactly where to look are even seeing this little comet naked-eye. Note the narrow, straight ion tail and the broad, curved dust tail. But moonlight floods the sky until later each night now, so don't wait! Comet ZTF E3, imaged on January 21st by Pepe Chambó of Valencia, Spain, using an 8-inch short-focus reflector. As of January 30th it was magnitude 5.0, matching the forecast. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has attaining its peak predicted brightness, as expected for the end of January and the beginning of February, while passing the Little Dipper in the northern sky. Comet ZTF is at its brightest, but oh, the moonlight.
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