C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a non-periodic comet that originated in the Oort Cloud. It was discovered by the Zwicky Transit Facility (ZTF). The comet reached perihelion on January 12, 2023 - ten days before this image was aquired. The comet eventually brightened to about magnitude 5 - difficult to see without binoculars or a telescope. With an eccentricity very close to 1 (0.999988), it's possible that the comet will eventually be ejected from the solar system.

Data for this image was acquired on the (cold) morning of January 22nd. I set up immediately outside of the Walter Haas Observatory at LDSP. I set up a cot inside the warm room, and even managed to get the space heater working. 45" subs (ISO 1600) were acquired. The image was processed to bring out as long a tail as possible.

The field of view used to acquire the image is shown in the Imaging Details box. The image at top is reduced in size (to roughly 25% scale).

Imaging Details
Imaging Date	22Jan 2023 ~10:00 UT
Imaging Location	Leasburg Dam State Park, Radium Springs, NM (+32.49, -106.92)
Constellation	Draco
Imaging Optics	Celestron C11 w/ Hyperstar
Imaging Camera	Modified Canon T2i (DSLR)
Imaging Filter(s)	n/a
Exposures	45" @ ISO 1600
Guiding	50mm f/4 guide scope, 2x Barlow, Lodestar X2, PhD Guiding
Image Processing	Images aligned and stacked using Nebulosity. Curves and colors adjusted using Photoshop CS5. Final smoothing & sharpening with Topaz Denoise AI.