Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

[dd999]

So many amazing captures!

Weather forecast for the next few days and it's ever growing distance from the sun meant last night was probably my last opportunity to see. Set out to Beachy Head to set up before it got dark at around 8:30pm, waited for around 2 hours to catch a glimpse and ended up staying until midnight as star after star popped out from the night sky. In the dark(ish) skies across the South Downs it was the clearest I'd seen it naked eye. It's a view that could never get old.

   

Edited July 19, 2020 by dd999

[Waddensky]

56 minutes ago, dd999 said:

So many amazing captures!

Weather forecast for the next few days and it's ever growing distancing from the sun meant last night was probably my last opportunity to see. Set out to Beachy Head to set up before it got dark at around 8:30pm, waited for around 2 hours to catch a glimpse and ended up staying until midnight as star after star popped out from the night sky. In the dark(ish) skies across the South Downs it was the clearest I'd seen it naked eye. It's a view that could never get old.

What a fantastic picture!

[Rob]

Managed it a few times this week, what a treat.. been waiting since Hale bopp in 97 for good one. I have taken some very average pictures just for my records, but I managed a nice view in the ED80 for some close up's

Here's one - fully un doctored just resized 20 sec shot iso800 LPR filer also.

 

Edited July 19, 2020 by Rob

[verreli]

Forecast last night was for clear sky's so climbed a local hill to get a view.  It was fully overcast when I got to the summit but after an hour, thankfully, it cleared.  Neo is still naked eye visible but barely so now.  Also had NLC's for an added bonus.  I can't see NEO lasting much longer and the best is definitely behind us.

[tooth_dr]

On 18/07/2020 at 11:28, PeterCPC said:

I got it last night but we had low level clouds spoiling the show a bit. Stack of 6 8 sec exposures at 1600iso Canon 750d at 48mm lens.

Peter

You can really see the extent of the tail in this image.  Great!!

[tooth_dr]

Another late one   I met up with @Xiga off here and we did some imaging at a local dark site.  It was really good, conditions started off perfect, and then started to deteriorate, but I think we got enough data.  We also got to do a bit of outreach to a few members of the public, showing them the MW, the planets, and some constellations as well as the comet.

Quick screen shot of 3 minutes total exposure, 180mm lens. I am away now to take flats.  This is full frame Nikon, so it just shows you how HUGE it is.

 

[goodricke1]

^^ that's a superb shot 🙇‍♂️

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Marvelous pics all round. The weather scuppered my NEOWISE dark sky ambitions this weekend. Camping under Bortle 3 with not a glimmer of sky glow, a perfect 360° horizon and twenty hours of rain from arrival at 1830 Friday!

Saturday evening was looking great until clouds rolled in, covering the setting sun and northern horizon. 🤬

The south and zenith were great though, the binoculars provided a consolatory glorious rural treat.

 

[John]

Hoping to have another look tonight. It's nice and clear, if a little breezy.

"Heavens Above" have the comet at magnitude 3.3 right now so it will be interesting to see if it is noticably dimmer.

 

[John]

2 hours ago, John said:

Hoping to have another look tonight. It's nice and clear, if a little breezy.

"Heavens Above" have the comet at magnitude 3.3 right now so it will be interesting to see if it is noticably dimmer.

 

Photobombed by a satellite !

 

[jonathan]

My first comet since Panstarrs a few years ago, though this one was much easier for me, once I'd found it I discovered I was even able to see it naked eye through my bathroom window!  Through binoculars I can make out just one tail pointing almost straight up towards the two lower stars from Ursor Major (I think).

Edited July 19, 2020 by jonathan

[Pixies]

It's appearing in my back garden a little earlier now and much higher. Definitely fainter than last night, and only visible in bins from Edinburgh.  

[andrew63]

It's still a naked eye sight and wonderful in 10x50s, with a long tail. Though lost a bit of it's sparkle, Comet Neowise is putting on a great show!  One from the garden around 10.50 last night.

Andrew

[johnturley]

Observed the comet for the first time in over a week last night, superb view through my 15 x 70 binoculars, although the comet had faded a bit this was not by much as predicted, and it was still just visible with the naked eye. The tail appeared to have grown from about 2 to 4 degrees, virtually filling the field of view of my 15 x 70 binoculars. 

John 

[Peter Drew]

Had a good session last night from 10.30pm until 1.30am.  Perfectly clear sky, better than Saturday night.  Struggled to find the comet at first due to how much it had moved since but easy in 15x70 once located.  Easy to see naked eye by midnight, it didn't appear noticeably fainter, probably  because of the better conditions.  I used 15x70 binoculars, SW 150ED, C8 SCT and 16"SCT.  All gave great but different views so no "winner".   The 15x70 gave the widest view so framed the comet best, the 150ED, as you might expect, gave the cleanest image,  the C8 gave a brighter image than the 150ED and the 16" gave the closeup view of the coma, very bright but no hint of a nucleus.

Overall, a memorable night, I think the equipment enjoyed it as much as I did.  I could see the comet naked eye through my grubby windscreen on the way home!    🙂 

[Jem7]

10 hours ago, Pixies said:

It's appearing in my back garden a little earlier now and much higher. Definitely fainter than last night, and only visible in bins from Edinburgh.  

Over the last 2 evenings I have been able to view the comet again after a week of constant cloud. Im no expert but it did seem dimmer to my eye and I was surprised to see how high  it was in the sky, in fact I spent 15 minutes scanning 5-10 degrees up with my binoculars before I found it much higher up. Also when I first viewed it the tail was angled roughly 45 deg now its almost 180 deg straight up. A lot has changed in a week. Great night though and delighted to get another look. 

Edited July 20, 2020 by Jem7

[Scoobs767]

Got to see the comet last night!  Actually saw it first through the live view of my camera.  Then great sight in 70x15 binoculars and an ETX 80.  Found it hard to make out with the naked eye.  Picture below with Nikon 5200 ISO 800 1 sec exposure f/1.8 lens, cropped and rotated.

 

[Plane38]

Saw it first on Thursday night, again last night. Took a while to find in the twilight in my 8 x 42s so was worried at first that it had faded dramatically and was glad when I saw it. Could see it easily naked eye by 23:30 BST or so. Would estimate magnitude 3.5-4. Probably the best I've seen since Ikeya-Zhang in 2002 (I didn't see McNaught in 2007 and Holmes, with its massive outburst later that year, was very different!).

Edited July 20, 2020 by Plane38

[discardedastro]

Still grappling with comet alignment in PI, but in lieu of working that out, stacked a bunch of frames from last time. ISO 320 Z6 on 200PDS with very very rough and ready polar alignment, 20x5s subs stacked. Had to move the telescope to a place with no polestar visibility to get the shot.

A single sub below (you can see what I mean by rough alignment):

Stacking revealed just how vignetted the full-frame sensor is in the 200PDS, and I forgot to take flat field frames as part of calibration, so had to crop quite a bit for the stack without calibration.

[scarp15]

Headed to my dark sky site and lofty position last night. This was my first opportunity for Neowise, no artificial light pollution NW/ N, yet at 55*14 latitude, the sun had only settled below the horizon. First detected the comet at around 11.30pm, then observed with Lunt 16x70's and TV 85 with a mix of eyepieces between 11.30pm and just after 2.00am. It was immediately visually impactful and increasingly became visually breathtaking. The Lunt 16x70's mounted on a monopod, sat on my adjustable observer's chair, the impression was a bright blue glow and long vast sweeping tail with good contrast. The image was preferable to my refractor although Delite eyepieces 7mm and 4mm gave a good impression (but were more used on Jupiter and Mars).  As the sky gradually darkened, it was very discernible with a long streaking tail naked eye. At 2.15am , I took a series of Sky brightness readings which averaged 20.03, quite alright for the time of year, the Milky Way overhead being very apparent. An unforgettable phenomena, ironically, switching on the radio for the drive home and 'In the air tonight' Phil Collins started up. 

[nicoscy]

Bit more fun with the Comet, I went by a dam in the mountains because I wanted to get the reflection on the water. 
 

Plus the views from a dark site beat city viewing every time!

Edited July 20, 2020 by nicoscy

[John]

Dimmer but still a nice looking comet here tonight.

Anyone else seeing a slight greenish tint to the nucleus and tail emissions immediately around it ?

 

[Steve2012]

I did it I found her just now 11.00 pm from home I am so made up I'm chuffed she is brilliant in binoculars I could see the nucleus and tail 

I didn't think I was going to see it but wow I might go to Shirley hills we have a great n/be view but will just nip out once more 

Steve

 

[Telescope40]

Had a couple of nites viewing with my binos. Canon IS 10x30 and Pentax 12x 50’s. 
Tonight I’ve used my 102 frac and binoviewers. 
Have to say that binoculars win by a country mile. 
Just a lovelier view all round. 
Hope to ft a few more viewing before the weeks out. 
 

John 

[mcrowle]

A superb NEOWISE session tonight, under crystal clear skies! Due to the comet's location I cannot get a telescope pointed at it, but am instead using 7 x 50 binoculars (and a camera/star tracker) on a footpath a couple of hundred yards from home.

NEOWISE's head may have dimmed a little, but the tail is as spectacular as ever! I was even just able to make out the ion tail via the binoculars for the first time. Moving the binoculars slowly from side-to-side helped with this, as did averted vision.

I finished viewing once the head dipped below the trees on the valley side. I do have another vantage point where I can still see it lower, but that means viewing across some of the village lights so, with work on Tuesday morning, I decided to call it a night.

Regards, Mike.