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Comet Neowise over WA State Sunday night

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4K views 71 replies 31 participants last post by  Matt Paluch 
#1 · (Edited)
I took this iffy shot tonight at about 11:00pm, a tad NW and low in the sky of Comet Neowise. Was not expecting to see it until early AM but happened to be out and looked over and unknowingly saw a hazy triangle in the sky. WOW!

Really cool to first get that sense that it is a comet.

It has a VERY long tail, like 5+ moon diameter lengths. Can see it fairly easily with naked eye-not bright, but with binoculars it is spectacular.
Not anywhere near as bright as Hale-Boppe in 1996/97, but impressive. Heck, it is a comet ! Cannot get picky and just relish the amazing event.

Some great meteor action including one that was a very big streak and close\"large"

Jupiter with moons bottom
comet2020.jpg


jupp3333333.jpg
 
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#15 ·
How many hobby astronomers in the house?
Not sure I count since I don't own a telescope, but have always been fascinated by this stuff. Had a subscription to Sky and Telescope for years, and was planning on building a sizable Newtonian. Then the first (clear) Hubble images were published, and was so blown away I never bothered to build one.

Really looking forward to the James Webb Space Telescope coming online, but not holding my breath that (1) it will make to a stable orbit at Lagrange point 2 over a million miles from Earth. And (2) that somehow, billions in highly complex, sensitive technology will unfold and actually work. If it does, we're all in for some serious eye-candy and historic scientific surprises.

The European Very Large Telescope currently under construction in Chile could give JWST a run for it's money. This beast will have a segmented primary mirror 130ft in diameter. That's 256 times bigger than Hubble's, and roughly 40 times that of JWST. It will also host the most advanced adaptive optics using 8 artificially produced laser "guide stars" to correct for atmospheric distortions.

Between JWST and the VLT, there's talk of directly imaging planets around nearby stars. Not clearly, but enough to perform spectral analysis of their atmospheres to determine if things like water vapor and organic molecules are present.
 
#16 ·
How many hobby astronomers in the house?
[/QUOTE]

I've had telescopes since the early 60's, started young. Before moving from Michigan I ran Longway Planetarium, the largest planetarium in the state. Sold or gave away over a dozen scopes before the move here, they were simply too large to move. At one time I had 17 scopes! It got to be a bit much, the garage was full.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Like Matt P, out comet chasing once again! Can't resist. Used a much wider lens this time to try and show more of the tail. Probably about 11:15pm.

Get out in the next 4-5 days, it is predicted to be at it's peak. It is a 'do not miss' it !

Just reading, the tail on Neowise is atleast 10 million miles long (!!!)

cometcometjuly13theeeeee.jpg

comet55444AAAA.jpg


cometfufufutttt777.jpg


C_2020_F3_NEOWISE.jpg
 
#19 · (Edited)
I've had telescopes since the early 60's, started young. Before moving from Michigan I ran Longway Planetarium, the largest planetarium in the state. Sold or gave away over a dozen scopes before the move here, they were simply too large to move. At one time I had 17 scopes! It got to be a bit much, the garage was full.
Never had a good telescope, just used terrestrial spotting scopes.

Always wanted a Questar scope ever since I sent for their catalog as a kid in the 70's. I look them up every now and then and I am guessing prices are including some collectible /nostalgia factor.

They just looked cool! I think this is the 3.5? The 7 was the most desirable one.

APR11-4199.jpg
 
#24 ·
Never had a good telescope, just used terrestrial spotting scopes.

Always wanted a Questar scope ever since I sent for their catalog as a kid in the 70's. I look them up every now and then and I am guessing prices are including some collectible /nostalgia factor.

They just looked cool! I think this is the 3.5? The 7 was the most desirable one.

View attachment 246927
We had one of the 3.5" scopes at the Planetarium. I used it a couple of times for astronomical objects and it is just too small to be very useful. But, like you said, they are cool looking.
 
#20 ·
I shot it in the wee hours Saturday.
Like others, I also turned my lens to jupiter, and was surprised I could detect the moons.

I'll show some extreme zooming in, as my full pictures are no better than those already posted.

I also shot it last night, the tail seemed longer the brightness seemed less, and it was more colored. I don't know if the last aspect is the atmosphere or the comet. Alas, I was not in focus. I'll try again tonight.

shot RAW file format, image processing w DXO PhotoLab.

j

no noise reduction at all.
View attachment 246933

w noise reduction
View attachment 246934

down sampled to upload
View attachment 246935

severe pixelates zoom in.
but the moons really are various colors.
View attachment 246936
 
#30 · (Edited)
I shot it in the wee hours Saturday.
Like others, I also turned my lens to jupiter, and was surprised I could detect the moons.

I'll show some extreme zooming in, as my full pictures are no better than those already posted.

I also shot it last night, the tail seemed longer the brightness seemed less, and it was more colored. I don't know if the last aspect is the atmosphere or the comet. Alas, I was not in focus. I'll try again tonight.

shot RAW file format, image processing w DXO PhotoLab.

j
I saw a shot of our new comet from a guy in France and it was a blend of 15 shots I think. I am guessing the layering brought the final image some incredible fine grain and color. I know this an area of your expertise. Perhaps a blend of underexposed shots increased slowly to lighten?
I know it was a 300mm lens is all. Will dig and see if I can find.

My Moon obsession, trying to get something different than just the Moon in a shot. I know the local bird perches and I keep an eye on the Moon and see if I can get them aligned. Usually not. Lighting is tough.

One of my favorite Moon shots I have taken could have been better it I could have exposed Jupiter different from our Moon-a graduated ND filter would have been the trick.

Top is the shot- Moon and Jupiter, and is powerful enough to show that Jupiter is an orb, not just a spot in the sky (1200mm lens equiv). If I had exposed Jupiter better, it's moons would have popped out, but our Moon would have been washed out.

I am not against burning and dodging some, but multi-exposure work and dropping/pasting drives me batty when I see it.

moonandjupiter3333.jpg


below-example of a no-win situation with lighting
eaglemoon2020mmaa22.jpg


below: getting closer to balance, or just giving in and loving silhouettes (cop out : )
moonbirdsnovof20192222.jpg


And lastly, below. Love of extreme super telephoto shots and cropping
moonbird2020appp2AA.jpg
 
#25 ·
Had my telescope and binoculars out the last few days looking at the Comet. Been putting on quite a nice show. This is the first comet that is visible to the naked eye that I have seen my entire life. Was too young for Hale-Bopp comet.

I used my homemade 6" dobsonian telescope, But I just started working on a 12" one that has been eating my fishing time up.
 
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