Comet NEOWISE!

I spent a somewhat breezy and chilly night on Whitehaven Harbour this evening with my 14 year old Daughter Janie. Our purpose was to scout out locations and capture the passing comet that is currently within our line of sight.

I am old enough to remember the great comet Hale Bopp pass over our heads in 1997 and despite being a teen and very distracted by my formative years was absolutely besotted by the celestial visitor. At the time i didn't own what you could call a capable camera or telescope and still to this day am frustrated by not having the means to have captured by my own hand the stunning display that was overhead.

Needless to say, NEOWISE has certainly got my attention, I've waited patiently many years to have the opportunity to capture another passing body, July 2020 is my chance!

Conditions

As midnight came and went it was obvious that the summer sun was going to keep the northern horizon a glow. The above photo, although a little lighter than reality gives a good indication of the conditions. My 'Star Gazing' phone app (Stellarium) indicated it was just above the horizon, lost within the glow of the lingering sunset and i was starting to give up hope as the minutes passed. The images that had been gracing various publications and social media were the only driving motivation i had as a quite bright sky, more clouds than i'd like and chilly fingers were ebbing at my will to wait.

The truth, and a valuable lesson to learn i may add; is that the perspective of the sky on a phone app and the actual sky overhead can be startlingly different. As the seconds passed some pin pricks of light started dotting the sky, one particularly bright one (Capella) gifted me the realisation that NEOWISE was actually much higher than the apps skewed perspective indicated. A simple adjustment of the level of zoom in the app then gave a much better alignment between the tech in hand and the skies above.

Clouds, Clouds Clouds

Did you know that clouds are big balls of obstructing fluff to the star gazer?! The sky was quite heavy with the white balls of annoyance as i arrived, however i did take the oppertunity to snap a few dramatic shots, underexposed and off angle but all to aid my feel of timing in the current light.

Another quite useful app (Ventusky) showed me the clouds should thin up quite some as we approached midnight and beyond.

I'm pleased to say, although i didn't have a clear sky, it was certainly workable for the sake of scouting out locations and more so the position of NEOWISE in the sky.

So over the span of an hour and a half the clouds did indeed grant me opportunity to snap some uninspiring images but none the less gave me a good indication of the size of the object and what lens's will best suit my intentions.

This coming weekend I aim to capture a local landmark to the town with NEOWISE clearly visible and potentially do a little wild camping in the lakes and capture NEOWISE amongst the wonderful fells that surround us.

Check back for the results!!

Martin

#comethunting #neowise #cloudsarecandyflossfromhell