In the update I described how and when I finally saw the comet. Scroll down to the end of the post or simply search for the word UPDATE.
I feel the need to describe how and WHEN to find the comet C/2022 E3 ZTF (with binoculars) at relatively high northern latitudes, because most Internet sites write about times “between midnight and dawn”. At high northern latitudes it’s actually possible to find the comet already in the evening.
Moreover, some Internet sites give info about this comet in a very unhelpful way – by writing about many different constellations (over many different days). In or near big cities most of the constellations are hard to locate and/or identify because there are too few stars visible with the naked eye, so total newcomers should concentrate on the North Star and later on the constellation Orion.
To identify the North Star (also called Polaris) you need to find only one mini-constellation (precisely speaking an asterism) that is fortunately very bright – the Big Dipper, also called the Big Wagon or the Plough.
All the screenshots below were taken while using the site stellarium-web.org set for the latitude 52 degrees north (local times may vary).
Starting from now (18 January 2023), for the next several days it will be possible to see the comet in the early evening almost exactly below the North Star, so almost directly to the north. First the comet will be very low above the horizon (which is bad for observations), but with every passing day it will be higher and higher.
The back of the Big Dipper/Big Wagon/Plough points at the North Star – the distance is about five times the height of the back of the Big Dipper/Big Wagon/Plough. The North Star is actually a part of another mini-constellation (precisely speaking an asterism) that is harder to see in significant light pollution – the Little Dipper, also called the Little Wagon. But all that matters is the North Star.
Please notice that in big light pollution the skies will look much differently – something like this (or even worse):
On 27 January 2023 the comet will be already as high as the Little Dipper/Little Wagon, while the Moon will be still not too bright (it will be getting brighter and brighter with every passing day):
In the evening of 31 January 2023 the comet will be higher than the North Star (and a little to the right), but the Moon will be already very bright.
On this night the comet should be at its brightest, so it will be best to observe the comet several hours later when the Moon will be already below the horizon – in the morning of 1 February 2023. The comet will be on the other side of the North Star because of the Earth rotation around its own axis of rotation (the rotation that will happened between the evening and the morning):
For the next several days the comet will be still very bright, but the Moon will be at its brightest, so it will spoil the observations of the comet. Another problem will be the fact that the comet will be moving away from the North Star (more to the west) and the time of observations will be moving closer and closer to the middle of the night (less and less past midnight).
Starting from 8 February 2023 BEFORE MIDNIGHT the comet will be quite close to the planet Mars – just before midnight they will be in the west direction. In binoculars the planet looks just like a very bright red-orange star (actually much brighter than any star on the night-sky), quite similar in color to the nearby star Aldebaran. They will be both able to be identified by the proximity of the very bright constellation Orion.
You can find all those night-sky objects earlier in the evening, but they will be much higher above the horizon, with the comet being the highest, so it will be very uncomfortable to point binoculars in its direction (looking at the angle of 70 degrees feels like looking straight up – it’s much more difficult than I had imagined without trying).
Several days later, on 14 February 2023 in the evening the comet will be very close to the star Aldebaran (and the nearby open star cluster Hyades) – significantly lower above the horizon, so it will be easier to find relatively early (it will be much more to the south rather than west):
In the following weeks the comet will be moving very slowly (as seen on the night sky from the Earth) along the right side of the constellation Orion, but its brightness will be fading rapidly.
At least for once I feel that my high northern latitude of 52 degrees is better than a lower one – I will be able to hunt the comet in the early evening at a much earlier date than people living at lower latitudes (because the comet, like everything else to the north, is higher in the sky and also because the night is longer, so it gets dark at an earlier hour) and later my observing angles will be better (higher in the morning on 1 February 2023 and lower in the evenings past 8 February 2023).
Clear skies!
UPDATE:
I can finally say that I have seen the comet with my own eyes (not on a picture), but it was rather disappointing in my binoculars (8x42 and 12x60) under Bortle class 6 skies with no dark adaptation at all – just a faint fuzzy, but very large.
At the time of my observations (02:30am on 29 January 2023) the comet was very high above the horizon (62 degrees according to Stellarium-web) so it was rather uncomfortable to point my binoculars in its direction. It was easier to find in 8x42 binoculars because the field of view was bigger, but the comet was quite weak. In 12x60 the comet appeared bigger and a little brighter, but it was harder to find – smaller field of view and much heavier binoculars.
Backstory:
In my home town the weather have been terrible for the last 2 months – almost constant cover of clouds, day and night. An astronomy weather forecast was good for just 2 hours last night, starting at 22:00, but it was predictably incorrect – even at 22:40 there were still only clouds. I set my alarm clock for 00:05, but I “overslept” and I woke up at 02:15. I checked an Internet site with infrared satellite pictures of clouds and it seemed good, but next wave of clouds was already coming so I forced myself to dress warmly and I went out onto my balcony. I was positively surprised that there were stars clearly visible (they weren't visible through the window), but it was also very cold and a little windy. I couldn't waste such an opportunity anyway, so I went out of my apartment building to be able to see the north-northeast direction (I couldn't see it from my balcony). And I found this freaking comet.
I hope that in the next several days the weather improves and I will be able to see the comet from my balcony through my small telescope in the morning hours – I have a clear view towards the north-northwest direction along the side of my apartment building (the side of the building points almost exactly north).
Clear skies!
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