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APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:05 am
by APOD Robot
Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF
Explanation: Stars trace concentric arcs around the North Celestial Pole in this
three hour long night sky composite, recorded with a digital camera fixed to a tripod on January 31, near Ãger, Lleida, Spain. On that date
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was near its northernmost declination in
planet Earth's sky. That put the comet about 10 degrees from Earth's North Celestial Pole making the comet's position
circumpolar, always above the horizon, from all locations on planet Earth at more than 10 degrees northern latitude. In the startrail image, the extension of Earth's axis of rotation into space is at the left.
North star Polaris traces the short, bright, concentric arc less than a degree from the North Celestial Pole. The trail of Comet ZTF is indicated at the right, its apparent motion
mostly reflecting Earth's
rotation like the stars. But heading for its closest approach to planet Earth on February 1, the comet is also moving significantly with respect to the background stars. The diffuse greenish trail of Comet ZTF is an
almost concentric arc mingled with startrails as it sweeps through the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis.
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:57 am
by daddyo
I really like the grooves on that LP
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:11 am
by Ann
Can't resist, sorry...
The APOD as a shirt (with the comet and star trails,
on top of the rug that is Polaris)
But I like the APOD, I really do!
![🌼](//cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/twitter/twemoji@latest/assets/svg/1f33c.svg)
It's a cool idea to show the comet's trail among the star trails. Personally I'm absolutely worthless at reading star trails, but yeah, even I could pick out the comet (thanks to the annotation, thank you)!
It seems to me that Polaris looks exceptionally bright in the picture. Many people seem to believe that Polaris is the brightest star in the sky, but that's not true at all - Polaris is just the 46th brightest-looking star in the sky and does not stand out among the other bright stars.
And by the way, what did I mean by pointing an arrow at the white rug that the checkered shirt is lying on? Well, I just meant that the rug is more or less the same color as Polaris, oh well... And obviously I also think that the star trails are kind of purple.
Anyway, nice APOD!
Ann
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:54 am
by FLPhotoCatcher
Here's my, rather poor, photo of comet ZTF.
Taken on Jan 28th.
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 2:16 pm
by orin stepanek
When I was a kid The Big Dipper was my favorite constellation to look for Because it was easy to find!
![Cool 8-)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:56 am
by Igwasborn
If comet ZTF relative brightnes, regarding the rest, has been enhanced in the picture, maybe it should had been mentioned in the explanation.
Re: APOD: Polaris and the Trail of Comet ZTF (2023 Feb 03)
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2023 2:27 pm
by johnnydeep
Igwasborn wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 12:56 am
If comet ZTF relative brightnes, regarding the rest, has been enhanced in the picture, maybe it should had been mentioned in the explanation.
Who said the comet's brightness has been enhanced? I'm not clear on what post processing, if any, has been done to this image from a 3 hour exposure.