Comet NEOWISE visible in the Northern Hemisphere July 2020

[deluxestogie]

...that magical little thrill...

Yes. While attempting to see NEOWISE the other night, I managed to see a 10 millisecond streak of a meteor. This is in contrast to "meteor showers" during which I could see nothing.

I am actually hoping that NEOWISE doesn't become so faint, as it appears farther above the horizon, that it still requires binoculars. When I post an astronomical event on this forum, I try to limit myself to only those that seem like they will be easily spotted and enjoyed. I misjudged this one. And it also forced me to recognize just how much more light pollution my little corner of the country has accumulated during the 22 years that I've lived in this once quite rural farmhouse. It's not sad. It's just reality. Everything...everything changes.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Maybe my camera saw the comet through the light pollution haze. I battled blackberry thorns to attach a tiny, backpacker tripod to a corner steel post of the bramble bed--in total darkness. The viewfinder of my Canon Powershot showed nothing but blackness. I pointed the camera toward a barely visible (to my naked eye) Big Dipper. I used a 10 second timer delay to click the shutter, then allowed it to take a long exposure. It was only after loading the images (two of them) into Adobe Photoshop that I could clearly see the Big Dipper.

So...maybe I captured it. Maybe not. I'll just pretend I did, and be done with it.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

Uh oh, resorting to photoshop to collect data... At least add a prettier tail onto it and Elon Musks automobile floating by in the background

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[Jitterbugdude]

Went out last night with the kids and saw it. Looks amazing in binoculars. That was probably the 12th comet or so I've seen and they never cease to amaze me. I have a 10 inch telescope (reflector) that I'll probably set up tomorrow night to get a better view.

 

[deluxestogie]

Well, @skychaser took pity on poor old Bob, and gave me some specific tips on finding Comet NEOWISE. In addition, tonight was my first twilight all month with zero clouds and very little ground haze to catch the urban lights to the north of me.

I actually could see the comet--definitely the comet and its tail--with naked eye. It was much lower to the horizon and farther from Ursa Major than the smudge in my photos above. There was way to much ground light last night to have seen that. So those pics should be tossed in with the toasters and statues identified in Mars rover photos.

I took 15 assorted shots with my camera tonight, and got zilch. Not even a hint of the comet in any of the photos.

So, I've really seen the comet. Really, this time. I'll be sure to look for it again the next time it visits Earth.

Thanks to @skychaser.

In my very first post in this thread, I showed this image:

It is just plain wrong. Boo! The actual location of the comet is at right about the top of the first "S" in sunset.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Here is a fascinating 16 minute video of trying to capture the comet in a telephoto lens in Denmark.

Telephoto Comet NEOWISE Photo (Preparing, Photographing, and Editing)

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Free web-based astronomy site for mapping out the night sky https://stellarium-web.org/

 

[Charly]

I am happy you finally saw the comet !
We saw it a few days ago it was easy to spot and I was surprised to see its tail so clearly.
No need to wear special glasses or binoculars, clear bright spot with a long tail.

 

[deluxestogie]

If I were a neolithic man, and saw Hale-Bopp Comet in the sky, I would repent and offer prayers and a burnt sacrifice. In a similar situation, Neowise would only have caused me to squint my eyes and maybe shrug my shoulders.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

It's been cloudy here all week, but cleared up for an hour last night around 10:30 so I ran out with my camera just to see if I could catch it in a photo. Unfortunately, the comet is directly over "downtown" from my angle of view, so lots of light pollution / sky-glow to wash out the tail. But you can still spot it; Straight up from the tall roof vent. 70mm, f3.5, 8 seconds & ISO 1000.

 

[Radagast]

Cool!

 

[deluxestogie]

Congratulations on the successful photo, @GreenDragon. I went as high as ISO 1600 on my latest, failed attempts, but my camera is just too limited (or too difficult to fiddle with the gazillion buried settings in the darkness).

Fortunately for me, my local forecast is for continuously cloudy skies for the next 6800 years.

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

@GreenDragon, here is your photo, cropped and yanked into high contrast, which distorts the colors.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

@GreenDragon, here is your photo, cropped and yanked into high contrast, which distorts the colors.

Bob

That is one cool roof vent - the comet is neat too. Bob I could have used your photoshop skills in grad school for making bands in gel photos

 

[deluxestogie]

My Photoshop 6.0 (which continues to work well in Windows 10 64-bit Pro) is from the year 2000. Of its many hundreds of remarkable and sophisticated features, I am skilled at about two dozen. It took me 15 years to figure out how to do an automatic drop-shadow on text (I used to create them manually, by overlaying identical text of different colors, then offsetting one). Even longer to do the colored circles for my pipe blend labels.

Bob

 

[plantdude]

My Photoshop 6.0 (which continues to work well in Windows 10 64-bit Pro) is from the year 2000. Of its many hundreds of remarkable and sophisticated features, I am skilled at about two dozen. It took me 15 years to figure out how to do an automatic drop-shadow on text (I used to create them manually, by overlaying identical text of different colors, then offsetting one). Even longer to do the colored circles for my pipe blend labels.

Bob

It's a neat program. GIMP and Inkscape are ok for freeware alternatives, but it's tough to beat photoshop. I'm afraid we've entered an age where seeing is no longer believing.

 

[deluxestogie]

Neuro-science has demonstrated that memory is geographic. Memory is geographic. When things (car keys, application menu items, buttons) are moved to a "better" place, the most experienced folks who depend on those things repeatedly have trouble locating them. Blender, GIMP, Inkscape and LibreOffice are all truly wonderful and powerful tools, and are unhampered by the need to sell more copies, since they are free. Updates are free as well. But the more their layout and logical tool structures differ from user expectations (my expectations), the more difficult I find them to use. For example, in Blender, you select an object by right-clicking it. Sure, they have a good explanation for why that is better than that old, tired left-click. But memory is geographic, which in that instance means immediately clicking the left button to select an object--then getting pissed-off...again.

There is no doubt that all of us (even old-timers like myself) can learn to be proficient with such a continuous stream of needless changes, but if I have the alternative of using a perfectly functioning tool that doesn't repeatedly piss me off, ...well, that's the one I will stick with.

Memory is geographic. A couple of years ago, I moved my binoculars to a better place. So I have yet to locate them. Comet? Sorry.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

How I feel when I consider using PhotoShop, The GIMP, etc.

 

[deluxestogie]

Imagine spending a decade or two becoming a master of that cockpit, then being confronted with a new, improved cockpit.

Airbus.

Bob