Solar System

Last night 2/11/2023 Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF made a very close approach to Mars in our night sky passing about 1.3 degrees away from the red planet from our perspective here on Earth. In this image you can also see some dusty reflection nebula in the background which also makes this scene quite interesting. You can find out more about Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF here on its wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2022_E3_(ZTF) This data and setup is available immediately for people wanting to subscribe to Grand Mesa Observatory's system 1 https://grandmesaobservatory.com/equipment-rentals Captured on 10th February for a total acquisition time of 24 minutes. Technical Details Captured and processed by Tom Masterson and Terry Hancock Location: GrandMesaObservatory.com Purdy Mesa, Colorado Date of Capture February 10th, 2023 12 x 120 second exposures Camera: QHY367 Pro C Gain 2850, Offset 76 Optics: Takahashi FSQ 130 APO Refractor @ F5 EQ Mount: Paramount ME Image Acquisition software Maxim DL6 Pre-Processing in PixInsight Post Processed in Photoshop CC