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Photographer:

Mike Olason

Location of Photo:

Tucson, Arizona

Date/Time of photo:

2026 July 9, 0942UT

Equipment:

91mm f/4.9 Refractor and ASI533MM camera

Description:

Comet P/2021 N1 (ZTF) was moving away from Earth (17.4 million miles) on the morning of July 9 after its close approach to Earth (15.3 million miles) on June 29 as it headed towards perihelion in its orbit on July 28 when it will be 89 million miles from the Sun. With the comet being so close to Earth it was moving 2.56 degrees per day across Earths sky, when at its close approach to Earth the comet was moving at 3.3 degrees per day across Earths sky. Even though the comet is now getting closer to the Sun it will become fainter as it moves away from Earth unless it has some unexpected eruptions. The comet was magnitude 15.9, fainter than the 15.5 when closest to Earth on June 29 and had a thin pencil tail 0.05 degrees long. Look at the picture of the comet passing Comet 220P/McNaught.