NEOWISE, brightest comet in decades visible through July

[Winslow]

Well, I was hoping to go out last night to look for the it, but as happens far too often with summer time astronomical phenomena in these parts, our regional weather patterns (high humidity, increased end-of-day cloud cover, and small storms) screwed me out of a clear sky opportunity. Forecast for the next 6 days: More humidity, more clouds, and even more evening storms.

 

[CatOnTheBass]

Tonight it was in the 'paw' of the Big Bear.

 

[blastoff99]

No photos here, but did manage to find an adequately dark and flat enough place nearby. Not ideal, but good enough. Went twice, and it took me so long to find it the first time (was looking too close to the Dipper) that 30 sec later it was behind the hills. Grr. Next night I at least knew where to look, although friend and I got out there earlier than ideal and he didn't want to stay for the whole show. Still reasonable viewing, though.

As a bonus, I got to see Jupiter and FOUR moons through 8x42 binocs. I was pretty surprised about that.

 

[Febs]

I took this Friday night at Valley Forge Park.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Jealous much downunder.

 

[hbarcat]

This is what the comet looks like when photographed with an expensive camera with computer guided tracking and then processed with sophisticated imaging software by someone with a lot of knowledge and experience at doing this.

As a comet approaches the inner Solar System, solar radiation causes the volatile materials within the comet to vaporize and stream out of the nucleus, carrying dust away with them. Separate tails are formed of dust and gases, becoming visible through different phenomena; the dust reflects sunlight directly and the gases glow from ionisation.

The curved, white tail is the dust tail. The straight, blue tail is the ion tail.

 

[MJ5150]

I still haven't caught a glimpse yet, and now I'm starting to feel the time crunch. We're looking to make arrangements to be out on some friends boat one of these evenings soon. From where we live, we can't see the horizon or even 10-15 degrees above it, so there's no way we'll catch it from home.
I'm totally new to the binoculars world. l bought a 7x50 and a 12x42 so I can learn the differences. So far, the 7x50 pair are more challenging to hold still.

-Mike

 

[Febs]

This is what the comet looks like when photographed with an expensive camera with computer guided tracking and then processed with sophisticated imaging software by someone with a lot of knowledge and experience at doing this.

I've been thinking about buying a tracker for a while. I wish I had done it before the comet arrived.

 

[CatOnTheBass]

I got this funny shot of an airplane on 5 second exposure. Looks like morse code, green-green red, green-green red. There are 5 red dots, so the cycle must be exactly 1 second.

I also got a nice clear shot of Jupiter's moons last night.

 

[hbarcat]

I've been thinking about buying a tracker for a while. I wish I had done it before the comet arrived.

What type of tracker? For camera or telescope? True equatorial or alt-az?

 

[hbarcat]

I got this funny shot of an airplane on 5 second exposure. Looks like morse code, green-green red, green-green red. There are 5 red dots, so the cycle must be exactly 1 second.

I also got a nice clear shot of Jupiter's moons last night.

View attachment 3910343
View attachment 3910344

It's headed right for it!!!

 

[Reedt2000]

In central NJ there's a ton of light pollution, so I had to drive to a more rural spot but I was able to see it last night. It was visible to the naked eye a little but clear with binoculars. I don't have gear to photograph it, but a friend took this shot over Lambertville NJ

 

[hbarcat]

I still haven't caught a glimpse yet, and now I'm starting to feel the time crunch. We're looking to make arrangements to be out on some friends boat one of these evenings soon. From where we live, we can't see the horizon or even 10-15 degrees above it, so there's no way we'll catch it from home.
I'm totally new to the binoculars world. l bought a 7x50 and a 12x42 so I can learn the differences. So far, the 7x50 pair are more challenging to hold still.

-Mike

I just bought a new pair of 10x42 binoculars specifically to see Neowise. In the past, I've had various sizes from 30mm, 35mm, 42mm, 50mm and 70mm. For astronomy, I can only enjoy the larger sizes with a tripod, due to the difficulty of holding them steady by hand. The 10x42 (or 12x42) is the size I usually recommend to others.

 

[EchoEcho]

I wanted to see it but British weather said NO!

 

[WillyW]

Good thing I stocked up on kool-aide, white robes and Nike's.

 

[RayWithFlats]

Just found this pic, Comet NEOWISE above the historic Jodrell Bank observatory.

Hopefully the weather will clear up enough for me to get a look myself tonight, fingers crossed.

 

[MJ5150]

Persistence pays off. This pic taken with my Pixel 3 XL.

I had a chance to get the comet and the ISS together, but I wasn't quick enough with my phone. I'll try again another night.

-Mike

 

[Febs]

I was able to capture the double tail.

 

[dwm74]

Finally got a chance to find it through the murk and muck of city skyglow. Not much time before it disappeared behind the neighbor's house and trees, but got a couple of nice looks in Friday and Saturday. Too close to the horizon for much of a naked eye view for me...I could see it but could barely make out the tail. I used my small 7x35 binoculars as I didn't feel like dragging out my telescope. Still, glad I was able to actually see it!

 

[RayWithFlats]

I was able to capture the double tail.
View attachment 3911266

Great photo!