“C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long period comet that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 2 March 2022. The comet will reach its perihelion on January 12, 2023, at a distance of 1.11 AU (166 million km) and the closest approach to Earth will be on February 1, 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km). The comet is expected to get brighter than magnitude 6 and thus become visible with the naked eye.”
Yo, dudes, like, wow man… radical!
/ Jeff Spicoli voice
I recall a comet in to 1970s that was supposed to be “brighter than a full moon” and we couldn’t see the damn thing with the naked eye. My Grandfather could have seen Halley’s comet twice, but it was overcast on the second pass.
Comets are notoriously fickle as to brightness. Much depends on how much in the way of volatiles it still has to expend. Sometimes we think a comet will be spectacular because it’s going to come close to Earth and therefore be very visible, but it turns out to be a dud with little or no tail. Other times what looks to be an unremarkable comet brightens up drmatically when it gets close because it still has a lot of volatiles to create a large, bright tail.
Most are disappointments. The only one that lived up to (and exceeded) predictions was Hyakutake in March 1996. It was impressive, with the head as big as a full moon and a long bright tail.
I was eight years old when Kohoutek approached; I, too, remember the hype around it, and that it wound up being not impressive at all (though I don’t remember getting a chance to see it).
I was 21 when Halley’s Comet made its most recent pass through the Solar System in 1986; due to a bunch of factors, it was very difficult to see with the naked eye, particularly if you were living in the Northern Hemisphere, and in a city (both of which I was), so I never actually saw it.
I was a teenager living in Silver Spring, MD. when Kohoutek swung by. I bundled up and went out at 4AM on the night the comet was supposed to be the most visible. I had my dad’s binoculars, and with them, I was able to see…nothing.
Silver Spring is not what one would call a “dark sky” area…
I’ve been fortunate to have lived in Arizona since 1983, and since then I’ve seen:
Halley’s
Hale-Bopp
Hayakutake
PanStaars
Neowise
I hope to get a photo of C/2022 E3 (ZTF), but it might not be easy to do…
The irony is that Comet West came along 3 years after Kohoutek, blazing in the sky-and was almost completely ignored by the media, who were burned by the 1st comet’s fizzle. I was a big astronomy buff back then (still am), but only found out about it years later.
And ironically, just a year or two after came Comet West, which was largely ignored because of the poor showing of Kohoutek. But Comet West delivered a great show for those who got up early in the morning during its appearance. It was amazing.
The comet is at perihelion today. But, it looks like really poor viewing conditions - there is a bright Moon close by. However, tomorrow looks more promising - it should be high in the sky by late evening, and no Moon.
I used Stellarium to play with viewing possibilities.
Had what seemed like the first clear night in over a month. At 20:00 comet was below the horizon, or at least below the mountains. Woke up around 3:45 and went out to take a look. Not naked eye visible at least with the city lights reflecting off all the snow, but was easy to find in binoculars. Couldn’t see the tail, butthe coma was clear, and could see the shape of it pointing away from the sun.
Was cold (17F per heat pump thermostat) and I needed the sleep so didn’t get out the telescope or try to take a picture.
