SKYWATCHING: How – and where – to see Comet ZTF from West Seattle tonight

2:07 PM: Late last night, the sky cleared and Comet ZTF (its abbreviated name) was visible from West Seattle. Expert skywatcher/educator Alice Enevoldsen tweeted about it, including photos:

A view of the comet from tonight. There was still some haze at times (which is why the inconsistent sky background comes from). This was an integration of about 50 separate 1-second long images, 180mm f/2.8 lens. Image by Jason Enevoldsen.@westseattleblog #CometZTF pic.twitter.com/1L0KsFipWf

— Alice's AstroInfo (vaxxed & masked) (@AlicesAstroInfo) January 29, 2023

Today, Alice says things are looking good for tonight – but you’ll need binoculars and something to steady yourself against, like a railing or tripod. In this tweet, she explains that “it will still be neatly between Polaris and the cup of the Big Dipper, so scan from the North Star (Polaris) slowly towards the Big Dipper.” Here’s a link she suggests for more info on how to find it; here’s what Space.com says about it, including some backstory.

9:08 PM: Alice is working on a pop-up comet-viewing opportunity for later tonight. We’ll add the info here as soon as she decides (or you can follow her on Twitter, where she’ll announce it).

9:52 PM: Alice is at Alki Playfield near Alki Elementary.

Cosmic January 29, 2023 (11:58 pm)

I am able to see it from my north facing window! Turned the lights off in the house and used binoculars. If you find the point of the Big Dipper that lines up with Polaris, at about the halfway point between the two scan down slightly and it will be there forming a triangle between them all.