C/2020 V2 (ZTF) 2023-Jul-21 Dan Bartlett

Oh! the struggles. On two consecutive nights C/2020 V2 (ZTF) shows its nearly exact motion southward. Each image is centered almost exactly 24 hours apart (23hr 50minutes). The topmost image of the comet is a mere 13 x 90 seconds of exposure time taken on the morning of July 21st while the lower comet image was stacked with 20 x 90seconds the following morning.

Morphologically, the differences in cometary shape over the period is probably due more in fact to the seeing conditions, unequal exposure time, IFN in each frame and poor "penmanship" of the photographer than in actuality.

A note: The Mosaic by coordinates script was used to align the starfield, however the images were "max" merged using PixelMath in PI. With such a large overlap either of the comet images are highly distorted/ hidden when blended, averaged or added using traditional means of mosaic merger.


Observational details:
Backyard setup
scope: C14 D = 356mm; fl =729mm; F# 2
camera: asi 2600mcP
exposure: 13 x90 sec & 20x90ses
Date &Time (local)_13x90sec_2023_07_21_034625PDT_AND_20x90sec_2023_07_22_035620PDT
Seeing: 4/5 (BothNights) FWHM 3.2
Transparency: 7/10 & 9/10
Observer: DEBartlett
Location: June Lake, California, USA


ImageDetails:
Projection origin ........ [1336.581562 1743.047588] px -> [RA: 3 12 00.964 Dec: +9 01 36.00]
Resolution ............... 2.128 arcsec/px
Rotation ................. 0.017 deg
Geodetic coordinates ..... 119 04 46 W 37 46 30 N 2357 m
Focal distance ........... 697.96 mm
Pixel size ............... 7.20 um
Field of view ............ 1d 34' 47.6" x 2d 3' 37.5"
Image center ............. RA: 3 12 00.976 Dec: +9 01 36.10
Image bounds:
top-left .............. RA: 3 15 13.531 Dec: +10 03 19.90
top-right ............. RA: 3 08 48.518 Dec: +10 03 21.76
bottom-left ........... RA: 3 15 12.338 Dec: +7 59 44.22
bottom-right .......... RA: 3 08 49.517 Dec: +7 59 46.06