# Anybody here paying attention to Comet ZTF? (Zwicky Transient Facility) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2023, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989 "2023-01-10T19:47:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/21 "2023-01-23T10:52:40Z")
Same here. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/22 "2023-01-23T10:53:48Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > I’m 58 and have yet to see a comet. > Now I see that this one won’t be visible from the southern hemisphere, and … _sigh_. Halley in 1986 was ideally viewable from the southern hemisphere. We northern hemisphereans has limited viewing opportunities. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/23 "2023-02-03T11:19:59Z")
A Mathew Nichols posted his picture on FB, taken from Neah Bay, Washington state in the far northwest corner of the state and about 150 miles WNW of Seattle. [![](https://i.imgur.com/SdK1i99.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/SdK1i99.jpeg) [![](https://i.imgur.com/gz6CZ1M.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/gz6CZ1M.jpeg) [![](https://i.imgur.com/8b0zAll.jpeg) ](https://i.imgur.com/8b0zAll.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/24 "2023-02-03T14:58:38Z")
I tried on a clearer night last week but couldn’t see anything with binoculars. It was supposedly near Ursa Minor but I could barely make out Polaris between haze and DC light pollution. That said, I’d never tried looking at stars through binoculars before and was impressed by what I could make out, e.g. further resolving what typically looks (to me) like just three stars in Orion’s sword. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/25 "2023-02-03T16:53:28Z")
I’ve been looking with 10x50 binoculars, but I haven’t been able to see it. Oh well, maybe the next time it comes around… ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/26 "2023-02-03T18:17:25Z")
Had two clear nights this week. With the inversion trapping pollution, snow and the ground, city lights and nearly full moon could just barely make it out in binoculars (10x50). Did get this (bad) photo. [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/e66KU7w.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/ovkz44g) Was almost out of frame so lots of coma. Was too cold to spend the time it would take to get a better image. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/27 "2023-02-03T19:11:27Z")
What lens / exposure / ISO / aperture ? ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/28 "2023-02-03T20:18:27Z")
Canon 70-200 f/2.8L at 125mm and F2.8. Using a Canon 6D. 9 shots at 6 seconds each ISO 320. Would have been better to use higher ISO, was underexposed. No tracking, just on a tripod. Stacked with [DSS](http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html) Very hard to line up the camera on something when you can’t even see the nearby stars in the viewfinder. 3/4 of my shots didn’t have the comet at all. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/29 "2023-02-03T20:39:55Z")
That is a very fast zoom! I have an 85mm f/1.8 that would give me about the same filed of view on my Nikon D7200. That camera has very good high-ISO performance, so if I could get out of the city tonight I might try it. But, it looks like it’s going to be cloudy. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/30 "2023-02-04T02:43:33Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@beowulff](#): > > > > That would be [Kohoutek](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Kohoutek). > > 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 24 in March 1986, for Halley. As fortune would have it I was out in the field down south at 29 Palms — the Mojave Desert, out in the middle of nowhere, smack dab in BFE. Late one night around 3am I got up. Nobody else cared to see it, but I certainly did. I walked alone, about a ½ mile out from our pos, which was a battalion HQ position so there were some lights. On a small hill I sat down and got comfortable, and then I got oriented to find it in the night sky. It wasn’t much at all, but I wasn’t looking for any spectacle like its glorious 1910 visit. I was there for the historical significance. The Bayeux Tapestry and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Isaac Newton and Edmund Halley, and 1759 for Sir Edmund Halley’s predicted return. He and Newton were dead by then. The year 240 BC and the first documented visit (recorded by the Chinese). And there it was. Halley’s Comet. And that small, dim, fuzzy snowball low in the night sky was spectacular. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/31 "2023-02-04T03:02:56Z")
It was overcast in Little Rock, Arkansas when Halley came in 1986. God hates me. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/32 "2023-02-04T05:09:20Z")
Haley’s comet was my excuse to talk my wife into going to Hawaii, which meant we were far enough south to get a decent view. I had 400 speed film on a SLR and got a few pictures about as good as @ThisOneGuy posted. Actually, it didn’t take a lot to persuade my wife, although she wasn’t always thrilled to be up long before dawn when on vacation. At least it was warm; this cold snap is my excuse not to go outside tonight to try to get a look at the current comet. ---
**Author:** ![Turki-lurki](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turki-lurki/32/7168_2.png) [@Turki-lurki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turki-lurki)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/33 "2023-02-05T23:28:17Z")
I have still not seen this thing. Has anyone else had luck along the mid-Atlantic ? Through binoculars is it perceptibly green? ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/34 "2023-02-09T14:20:37Z")
Here in New Hampshire it’s been cloudy nearly every night for the last month. But a few partly clear nights I have gone to try and see it and found nothing. Now it’s supposed to be hear Orion and Mars, and last night was completely clear. Still couldn’t find it even with binoculars. ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/35 "2023-02-10T04:35:16Z")
> [@Turki-lurki](#): > > Through binoculars is it perceptibly green? No, not that I could see. Was clear again, took out my 8" scope. Not green in that either. Have been trying to get better pictures. Close up: [https://i.imgur.com/Hs6L6cA.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Hs6L6cA.jpg) With Mars: [https://i.imgur.com/a0USyn9.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/a0USyn9.jpg) To take the above used same lens at 200mm. Found that 6 seconds was too long at that focal length, went to 1 second at ISO 6000 with lost more frames. Was only out for about half an hour and then couldn’t use my fingers well enough to press the camera buttons. Can’t press those buttons with my gloves on. Getting dimmer/harder to see. Right now at 40 degrees north it is almost directly overhead at sunset, just a bit north of Mars. Will be getting closer to Mars over the next few days. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/36 "2023-02-10T04:44:49Z")
You’re talking about Comet Kohoutek, which I definitely remember as an astronomy-crazed young-un, and the disappointment when we couldn’t see it. A little over a decade later, Halley also disappointed. However, Hale-Bopp put on quite a show in the late 1990s, accompanied by the Heaven’s Gate disaster. ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2023, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/37 "2023-02-10T05:05:35Z")
Another thing that occurred to me: I don’t know why the media made such a big deal about this being a green comet. Green comets aren’t at all rare. Close/bright enough to see any color naked eye at all would be very rare, but showing green in photographs is normal, perhaps even the majority of comets. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2023, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/38 "2023-02-12T06:20:10Z")
Saw it last night. Drove for 90 minutes to get away from the city lights. We only had binoculars so it was only a smudge. It had been clear all evening but clouded over within about ten minutes of us starting to look. Oh well. We saw it. In truth, seeing the comet was a bit of a maguffin. An excuse to get out of the city and have dinner at a country pub. But I enjoyed myself. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2023, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989/39 "2023-02-13T14:50:43Z")
That is so frustrating. I could not see it last night either. Clear sky, no moon, supposed to be right near Mars. It should have been there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-paying-attention-to-comet-ztf-zwicky-transient-facility/977989.md?page=1)