So I don't know if you heard it, but there is a comet currently visible during sunrise and sunset: comet Neowise
As I am interested in space and the world around our little biosphere we call Earth, I thought that I'd check it out for myself. I read that it's pretty easy to spot it and that now is the best time to observe it as it just passed perihelion, the closest distance to our sun. So where to look?
A sky map such as this is helpful if you know your bearings and know the basics about the positions of the stars. The good thing about this comet is that it is located near a very prominent constellation: Ursa Major (the great bear or also known as the big dipper). It is one of the easiest constellations to spot in the sky for the northern hemisphere. I also knew from another sky map, that the comet is located pretty much exactly North-West. So I got my compass out and checked the sky: but I couldn't see anything! However, that is perhaps less surprising if I mention the caveat that the sun had set only about an hour ago and it was still too bright to see most of the stars...
As it got darker and darker I tried to spot it, but just couldn't make it out. I was already a bit disappointed as I had seen spectacular images on the internet which were too amazing to believe (of course I am not so naive as to think that I'd see something similar with just my eyes ;)
So I had an idea: I'd take a long exposure shot in the general direction of where it was supposed to be. In theory, I would be able to spot it on the picture. So this is what I got:
And there it was! I know, not very spectacular and there is some blurring from my camera as I did not have a tripod. Anyway, at least I had found it... So now for the close ups: I waited some more until it got a bit darker and zoomed in onto the comet and took several long exposure shots. I should mention here that my setup was pretty terrible for night shots: I didn't have a tripod, a zoom lens with a high aperture and there were street lights around me. By the way, if you are in a city it is super hard to get any good look at it at all as building and lights usually obstruct the view.
Not too impressive, right? :D But hey, I still got to take a shot :)
If you have a better setup you could potentially see something like this ( I know, it's almost too amazing to believe, but of course this is with heavy editing as well I suppose):
Taken by jeff Dai on July 17, 2020 @ Ankang, Shanxi, China
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