Comet NEOWISE

Cap'n Jack

Cap'n Jack

Final Approach
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Cap'n Jack
This was from a couple of days ago early in the morning. This should be visible in the northwest now, in the evenings, under the "big dipper". It's probably pretty bright if I could image it with a shopping center and car dealers lighting the sky (glow under the image).

JAK_80772.jpg JAK_80832.jpg
 
I tried catching it last night but I think it was too close to the horizon. I have too many trees and other obstructions down low. There were some clouds, too, that didn’t help. I’ll try again tonight.
 
Matthew said:
I tried catching it last night but I think it was too close to the horizon. I have too many trees and other obstructions down low. There were some clouds, too, that didn’t help. I’ll try again tonight.
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It will get higher from the horizon over the next few days
 
I had no idea this was visible this week. Last night we were finishing up a training sortie. It was my last night sortie in the USAF so I thought I'd do one more run up to 50,000' I had just leveled off at 50k and was accelerating through about M1.1; I was thinking I was on top of the world, I looked to my left and saw this thing. Of course I was wearing night vision goggles so it stood out like a bonfire. It was amazing and something I'll never forget - really made it special. I pointed it out to the other guys who saw it on their way home. It's amazing how something in space can bring you right back down to earth and make you feel so small.

I really wish I could've taken a picture of it through those NVG's from 50k' - I'll probably never see something like that again.
 
Saw it. Pretty cool. I was able to find it in the binoculars. Then, when I knew where to look I could see it with my Mk1 eyeballs. I had to find just the right spot in my yard and was able to see it through a gap in the trees. In the next day or two it should clear the trees.
 
Tried to see in tonight near Roanoke TX (west of Dallas). Too much light pollution to see. On a positive note, we were able to see the ISS cross the sky from southwest to northeast.
 
I was able to see it faintly with binoculars tonight. I'm in the middle of the city, so there's too much glare to see it with the naked eye. Maybe in a couple of nights I'll see if I can get a photo with a long-ish lens.
 
From the backyard. My friend is up flying and said it looks really cool from up there...
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A friend of mine who is a FededEx pilot (former USMC F-18 Pilot)posted this yesterday.


“Great view of the NEOWISE comet on the way to Anchorage this morning while the sun was coming up. Made up for the 12:30 am wake up call.”

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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The last couple of mornings in the PNW have been cloudy, so no joy in looking for it. I've got the camera on a tripod so timed exposures will work, but with clouds it's not worth getting up a O Dark Thirty to take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow?
 
Ghery said:
The last couple of mornings in the PNW have been cloudy, so no joy in looking for it. I've got the camera on a tripod so timed exposures will work, but with clouds it's not worth getting up a O Dark Thirty to take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow?
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I don't think it's visible before sunrise, is it? I think it's only visible about an hour after sunset until the comet sets below the western horizon.

And it does look like it's visible in the AM, but just for a very short time:

https://earthsky.org/space/how-to-see-comet-c2020-f3-neowise

Edit: and if you miss it this time, check again when it returns in 8786.
 
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Ghery said:
The last couple of mornings in the PNW have been cloudy, so no joy in looking for it. I've got the camera on a tripod so timed exposures will work, but with clouds it's not worth getting up a O Dark Thirty to take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow?
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It was scattered when I was taking the pictures. So it took about 30 minutes to find a nice window. I have a shot where it looks like the comet is going into the cloud.

One thing about this comet - my old eyes can barely see it without magnification.

I was using the A7sII viewfinder in 10x zoom mode to find it and focus. My exposures were 8secs long, 200mm f5.6, iso 3200, tungsten WB and IBIS set to 200mm. I just had it on a monopod with a small tripod base and used a 5sec release. The 8 second exposure gives cloud blur and some slight star trails without a equatorial drive but the comet is just big enough that the star trails don't look as bad.

The picture would look really cool with a mountain in the background like you have in the PNW :)
 
Ghery said:
The last couple of mornings in the PNW have been cloudy, so no joy in looking for it. I've got the camera on a tripod so timed exposures will work, but with clouds it's not worth getting up a O Dark Thirty to take some pictures. Maybe tomorrow?
Click to expand...

We were able to see it with the naked eye 2 days ago just on a random hilltop in Hillsboro in the evening (~8pmish). My 10x binoculars didn't really improve the experience.

I grabbed an app called Stellarium to help find the thing. https://stellarium-web.org/
 
Still can't see it with the naked eye here, nor with the camera's viewfinder. I located it with binoculars, then just aimed the camera in the same general direction. Luckily I got it in the frame and was able to enhance it in post.

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Even an iPhone held up to the eyepiece of the binoculars can image it.

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The word disaster comes from comets, as they were thought to be portents of bad happenings.
 
steingar said:
The word disaster comes from comets, as they were thought to be portents of bad happenings.
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I gather that a comet is one of the candidates for the cause of the dinosaur extinction. Bad for the dinosaurs, good for us, I guess.
 
Nice pictures!

Make sure to be around in 6800 years when it comes back! :)
 
schmookeeg said:
We were able to see it with the naked eye 2 days ago just on a random hilltop in Hillsboro in the evening (~8pmish). My 10x binoculars didn't really improve the experience.

I grabbed an app called Stellarium to help find the thing. https://stellarium-web.org/
Click to expand...

I'll look again this evening, but the clouds to the north may be a problem again.
 
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