Click to View the Full Thread

Boundary Waters Quetico Forum :: Listening Point - General Discussion :: Comet NEOWISE
 
Author Message Text
MississippiDan
07/12/2020 05:11PM
 
Thanks. Will be watching for the comet in the evening later on this week.
 
OneMatch
07/12/2020 02:27PM
 
Here is a nice pic of where the comet will be on those dates



 
ghamer
07/12/2020 06:31PM
 
Here is a shot from a local park at around 4:00 a.m. this past week. This was taken with a 100mm lens, so you do't need a lot of magnification to see it. It was about a 8 second exposure at ISO 1600 so it looks brighter than with the naked eye. I sure wish I could be shooting this comet in the Boundary Waters!

 
Boppasteveg
07/12/2020 07:20PM
 
NICE shot! I'm going to pull out my old Minolta SLR this week. I have not used it in years - never was really good at setting shutter speed and stuff but it's worth a try! What film shoot I shoot? 800?
 
OneMatch
07/12/2020 10:46PM
 
Wow, Gary, great pic! I'll be up at Sawbill beginning July 19, so I'm hoping for clear skies to see this. I only wish I had your know-how and equipment to take a great pic of it up there.

 
Boppasteveg
07/12/2020 07:19AM
 
C/2020 F3 (Comet NEOWISE) swept past the sun on July 3rd, and has since become visible to the naked eye.
This rare opportunity to glimpse the chunk of ancient ice from the outer solar system should continue next week, when astronomers hope it will become even brighter. Starting tonight (July 12), Comet NEOWISE will be visible in the evening as well. About an hour after sunset, it will appear near the northwestern horizon. As the month progresses, it will rise higher in the sky, moving from the constellation Lynx toward the Big Dipper. On July 22 the comet will reach its closest point to Earth—a distance of 103 million kilometers—before continuing its cosmic flight. Whether it will still be visible to unaided eyes by then is uncertain, however.

I'm really bummed that I can't get up there into the dark skies for this event and hope anyone going up this week will take advantage - because this comet won't be back for 6000 years!

 
OneMatch
07/12/2020 10:42AM
 
Thanks for posting this. Saw a reference to it in a news article and as I'm going to be up there from July 20 - August 8, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this.


Here's to dark skies everywhere.
 
ghamer
07/12/2020 11:29AM
 
Here is a link to some good info on the Comet. Comet Neowise
Scroll down for some nice charts showing the location in the sky and the dates visible.
As boppasteveg said, it will be visible low in the NE sky until July 15... very early, think 4:00 a.m.
Then it becomes too low in the horizon and becomes visible in the NW sky after sunset from July 14-23. I have been getting a few photos here in East Central Iowa... I found it challenging to see with the naked eye but with a telephoto lens or decent binocs, it is great!
 
schweady
07/13/2020 09:25AM
 
So happy that it is now an evening event. Getting up to catch it at 4 am last week was not the easiest.

 
ghamer
07/13/2020 06:28AM
 
Boppasteveg: "NICE shot! I'm going to pull out my old Minolta SLR this week. I have not used it in years - never was really good at setting shutter speed and stuff but it's worth a try! What film shoot I shoot? 800?"
I'm not sure which film types are available these days. 800 is probably a good place to start though. A fairly fast lens will help a lot (minimum aperture setting of F2.8 or so)
I suggest practicing ahead of time during the day to find where infinity focus is on your lens... it can be really tough to focus when it is dark.
Good luck and have fun!