Willow and I were up early with hope that the skies were clear. To our delight the stars were shining. So off to the other side of Swansea for dark skies to try and catch a glimpse of Comet 2022 E3 ZTF.
I couldn’t find it with my naked eye but was hopeful the camera could pick it up. I knew roughly where it should be located among the stars and pointed the camera in that direction.
Comet 2022 E3 ZTF has passed around the sun and is nearing its closest distance to Earth. The last time the comet passed near the sun was 50,000 years ago.
Sure enough, once home and the pictures downloaded I was able to locate the Comet, but it is very dim. I am not sure if I could be able to spot it with my eye alone. However, I stand a better chance now that I know exactly where to look.
It was nice to be out looking at the stars after, what seems, like a long stretch of overcast skies.
Palliser Pass 
Jim R
Very good news! I’m sure that was fun. I’m still waiting for some clearing here. It doesn’t look promising. But, you never know.
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underswansea
Hi Jim, there is still plenty of time and the comet might yet get brighter. If you get a chance it would be nice to see what your zoom could do. Take care. I hope you and Malenie have had a good weekend.
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mountaincoward
Great that the camera can pick things up when you can’t necessarily see them yourself. We’ve had clear skies so perhaps I could have gone out and looked. But my star-spotting eyesight is pretty bad I think. I was supposed to join in a survey to see if our area was a ‘dark=sky area’ (which is really is) and I had to count the stars in Orion. I thought to myself, no problem, I can see all 6 of them… then I read that there are actually many more than that! I can only see the belt and the basic diamond shape!
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