Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)

[Bruce Leeroy]

Amazing meteor whilst viewing  Neowise @ about 01:10 tonight.

I say amazing, I didn't see it naked eye I was testing my 7X35 binos and it appeared infront of my view and I managed to track it well 👍😀

Edited July 21, 2020 by Bruce Leeroy

[Stu]

2 hours ago, John said:

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 ?

 

We had some cracking views tonight from Ranmore Common. Through the Genesis and Tak I could definitely see a greenish tint to it tonight. The tail looked much longer under the darker sky vs at home (Mag 20.2 vs Mag 19.1)

[inFINNity Deck]

6 hours ago, John said:

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

 

Yes, I can confirm that, see my images in earlier posts:

I made another image last night, but still need to process it, will try to post it this afternoon or evening.

Nicolàs

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by inFINNity Deck

[Barry-W-Fenner]

I finally managed to see this stunning comet last night. What a sight.  The tail was huge!

A couple of  the old "phone to the eye piece" shots attached! Nothing like the stunning images above of course!

Baz

[PeterCPC]

Finally got a clear night on Monday and managed to grab a few. First is at 58mm with a Canon 750d and the second is with my trusty Samyang 135 lens. You can really see the split tail.

Peter

Edited July 21, 2020 by PeterCPC

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Quick stack made last night.

Canon EOS 80D with Sigma 50-100 mm F/1.8 zoom at 100 mm and full aperture. Stack of 10 30s subs, ISO 200, stacked in APP, post-processing in Gimp 

[Steve2012]

I'm only asking because does anyone know roughly how big is the nucleus is and how  many millions of miles her tail is?

Steve

 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, Steve2012 said:

I'm only asking because does anyone know roughly how big is the nucleus is and how  many millions of miles her tail is?

Steve

 

At a length of about 12 degrees in the sky, and a distance of roughly 0.7 AU, the ion tail is about 22,000,000 km long, or 13,700,000 miles. The nucleus itself is probably just a few miles across. I would have to measure the coma to work that one out

[happy-kat]

Last night was the first of three sessions where we could not see it naked eye. I did set the camera up on the window ledge, the comet is now on the evening side for us NW to N which is above a roundabout and many street lights which probably didn't help. It doesn't get far enough around for morning viewing now here for us. 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

Last night was the first of three sessions where we could not see it naked eye. I did set the camera up on the window ledge, the comet is now on the evening side for us NW to N which is above a roundabout and many street lights which probably didn't help. It doesn't get far enough around for morning viewing now here for us. 

I could see it with the naked eye, but the tail was only seen well in averted vision

[johnturley]

Comet has now definitely faded quite a bit from when I last photographed it on 11.07.20, but staying fairly bright for longer than predicted, I couldn't see it with the naked eye, but my wife with her superior eyesight could still make it out, although not the tail.

I attach the best of the photos I took with my Canon 6D, 24-105mm lens at 105mm f5.6, 10 secs exposure at ISO 1,600, unfortunately slightly out of focus, it is difficult to achieve precise focus at night with a lot of modern camera lenses as autofocus doesn't work, and although you can manually focus the lens, there is no distance scale. In the past you simply set the distance scale to infinity. 

John 

[inFINNity Deck]

Oh yes, it is green and seems to get greener by the day, or is it me? 😉

Slightly different recording than last few times. Due to heavy cloud-cover last night the luminance session failed to produce usable material, so I left that out of the processing. For the rest each colour 12 subs of 5 seconds, finished just in time before it became fully overcast. Stacked with DSS, stretched with APP, combined with PSP. Images taken with SkyWatcher Esprit 150ED, ZWO ASI1600MM Cool Pro, unguided imaging with the GM3000HPS tracking the comet.

Nicolàs

[Jonk]

16 minutes ago, inFINNity Deck said:

Oh yes, it is green and seems to get greener by the day, or is it me?

I picked up some green on Friday in this image.

[HaleBopp2007]

I saw the comet on July 18thfrom a bortle scale 2 location. Oh, what an insane view! A 10 degrees long turquoise dust tail, and just came back from seeing it again, still nice, and greener! 

[NGC1023]

Wonderful to look at the many brilliant pictures posted in this thread - many thanks for posting! Up here at 60 deg N I get some consolation to read that we all have to cope with a common challenge; poor weather. Our bright summer nights, plus the location low in the northern sky doesn't improve conditions for observing this comet. Add a splendid display of noctilucent clouds, and observing C/2020 F3 becomes a real challenge . . .

Last night I made another attempt at observing and photographing it. Nikon D200 at ISO 1600, 105mm prime lens at f2.5, one 1/2 sec exposure. Slight contrast/brightness editing in Photoshop to approximate what could be seen visually. 26 and 25 UMa above NEOWISE, and SAO43046 below and to the left. Lots of NLCs centered at NNE

[happy-kat]

The noctilucent clouds are so lovely., yet to be seen here.

Enjoying seeing every ones images.

Wanted to share this, as although I took 90 images I whittled it down to 35 that didn't have cloud through the comet tail, when the cloud was included the ionised tail did not show and the same when the stacked process removed all the satellite trails. I am having a break from trying to do a colour process.

Canon 1100d, vintage 55m lens at f2.8 ISO1600  6 seconds sat on a gorilla tripod on bedroom window ledge with the window open, even then the comet was too low before astro darkness.

Bit of fun a bright satellite, may be the ISS going NW to NNE E time was 23:18-23:19 on the 17th

The plate solve for the area

Last night/this morning I took over 200 images but either my focus was off or the sky and comet were just not the same as the ionised tail isn't even visible.

Edited July 21, 2020 by happy-kat
added the platesolve

[John]

Its still a naked eye comet here tonight. A little dimmer perhaps. Pale greenish tint to the nucleus. Seems to be dropping around 1/10th of a magnitude per 24 hours according to posted magnitude estimates. A slow, dignified fading

 

[Steve2012]

11.00 pm Second night got her with the binoculars I can just make out the bright nucleus with a great tail

The neighbors were out all girls so I offered to show them a marvelous astronomical site the comet they all loved seeing her

They said she was awesome

Steve

Edited July 21, 2020 by Steve2012
Enter time

[mcrowle]

I attempted another NEOWISE session tonight (Tuesday), as the next several nights are forecast to be cloudy.

Things were looking good when I first arrived at my observing spot, but it gradually became obvious that high cloud was an issue towards the North. The comet was barely visible to the naked eye, and the tail much shorter than before in binoculars. Quite a contrast to last night's glorious views!

Regards, Mike.

[John]

My 8th session observing comet C2020 F3 Neowise tonight

I'll miss it when it's no longer visible

 

[Corncrake]

@John Amazing colour ! Nice

Edited July 22, 2020 by Corncrake

[Paul M]

On 20/07/2020 at 14:17, nicoscy said:

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

 

There are some stunning comet images right now on SGL. My "like" button is worn out!

I know it's not a beauty contest and images can be very personal endeavours, but this image stopped me in my tracks. Perhaps it natural, understated quality caught my eye. 

Unfortunately I've been clouded out but this image is exactly how I want to remember this fine comet!

[kerrylewis]

It’s been a welcome treat and a privilege to observe this comet. As a comet lover I don’t mind the faint fuzz balls ( Can I see a tail? Maybe?) but I longed for a ‘proper’ one. I was beginning to think, however, that there wouldn’t be one as various forecasts (’naked eye in the coming months’) fizzled out.

Then along came Neowise which only now is beginning its ‘dignified‘ fade - great word @John . 

I shall follow it as it continues on its journey and remember fondly the ‘goose-bump’ view through binoculars. 

[Xiga]

On 19/07/2020 at 13:24, tooth_dr said:

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.

 

Yes it was a great night, totally worth the drive out 😀  I'm still working my way through the data, hoping to have an image soon (although it's proving tricky as the conditions weren't great by the time i finally got collecting data). 

It was nice to see the comet with the naked eye (i would never have been able to do so from home, too much LP) and it's always nice to have some company too in this all-too-often-lonesome hobby of ours! lol. 

Thanks again for the meet up Adam, and showing me around the location 👍

[tooth_dr]

Looking at the weather etc, I think I'm done with Neowise and to be honest quite satisfied that I saw it, imaged it, and shared time with friends new and old.