#solidly smudgy and faintly green exactly where it was said to be

[gottagobuycheese]

so tired, so cold, so totally worth the minor hypothermia

[Image ID: a faint photograph of the comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF), which appears as a vague greenish smudge with a slightly brighter central part. /end IF]

#out of context this is an extremely unimpressive picture lol #heck maybe even with context #but HOLY FREAKING MOLY #c/2022 e3 (ztf) #comet ztf #Cheese's personal molasses #THE J O U R N E Y TO GET THIS SMUDGY LITTLE THING PHOTOGRAPHED #the cold broke one of the clasps of the telescope's tripod so we had to shorten it all the way down and just sit on the cold lake deck #looking back and forth between an online simplified star chart the sky and the scope #meanwhile the moon is rising higher and higher and making everything brighter #so we're just taking random cool night pictures because even if we didn't manage to see the comet at least we got to see a cool night sky #then like an hour later my dad texts from 5 hours away asking if this one little tiny smudge in my housemate's picture is The One #then comparing everything we realize that that smudge is exactly where the comet's supposed to be tonight #so THEN we're both using the telescope at the same time trying to find this smudge #him with the tiny viewfinder and me through the main scope #many inadvertent head bumps #so he's telling me to move a little this way and that way to find specific stars #and I am totally guesstimating because his head's in the way of the viewfinder #but then we found it! #solidly smudgy and faintly green exactly where it was said to be #then trying to line up the phone camera with the telescope which is hard on a normalday but on a day with minimal light from the subject #darn near impossible #but by SHEER LUCK happened to snap this photo on the first try #we tried to get longer exposure afterward but couldn't manage it #fingers were frozen and couldn't see a thing and our other friend was freezing inside the car #so we had to bail #but WE SAW ITTTTTTTT #and now that we've found it I think it'll be easier to find in the future #dunno that I'll be able to line it up long enough for a longer exposure picture though #ahhhhh but I'm so satisfied right now you have no idea