Comet Neowise from Bromley

[Carole]

I decided that the comet would be too low from my house even through the upstairs front window as there are houses opposite, and thought the ideal spot would be from the local park where we walk the dog as it has a nice NE horizon.  But didn't fancy the idea of walking to a park on my own with camera equipment in the middle of the night.

As it happens Hugh was also wanting to view the comet and was wondering where to go, luckily he E Mailed me regarding something else astro and it gave me the idea he might go with me and so we went together.

We hummed and Ha'd as to what time to go as I thought it was a before dawn object, but then I was reading on forums of people seeing it during the night.  It was only then that I realised Capella is circumpolar and with the comet being near Capella we decided to go at 2am.

We each took a pair of binoculars with us and socially distanced (ish)

What a sight, considering we are in Bortle 8 and looking towards the glare of London, once we knew where it was and got night adapted we could just about make it out naked eye. 

I took my Modfied DSLR and Samyang lens with me, plus my laptop and did a series of images but Canon Utility timer won't seem do less than 5secs on the timer which is possibly a bit too long.  We found a park bench to sit on and operate the laptop. 

I tried later to do some manual 3sec subs but Dawn was starting to arrive by then.

During all this, there was a bit of movement going on behind us in the Nursery kiddies playpark, it was a pair of foxes playing on the kids apparatus.  They walked past us bold as brass.  Hugh shone a light on them and they looked pretty healthy and quite unperturbed by our presence.

We got a good hour in before Dawn started to appear during which time Hugh spotted some cloud formations which he wondered whether they were Noctilucent clouds and looking at Mark's photo they were the same formations we were looking at, I now wish I had attempted a photo of them as well. 

So a very successful venture and 1st for Hugh with the noctilucent clouds and and only my second sighting and an image of the comet.

11 x 5 secs  Modified Canon 1100D
Samyang 135mm @ f2.8
On Manfrotto Tripod and ballhead
(Edit: forgot to mention this is a Crop of the full frame which really needs flats doing).

I did darks but haven't done flats for this as yet.  (Edit: I can now see a faint sign of a dust bunny, so better do some flats).

[MarkS]

Sounds like you had a good night out. I'm glad you saw it from Bromley!

That's a great shot.  Well done!

Mark

[Carole]

Thanks Mark.  How I wish we could see this in darker skies.

Carole

[Hugh]

Hi Carole

Nice picture!  It has been some time since I have done some early am observing but I'm glad we got together as it made it all the more enjoyable.  It was a good idea to go earlier that we thought (about 0200 was just right) and I was amazed at how easy it was to spot once we had got our direction fixed.  The park location you suggested was just right, albeit looking in towards London's glow, and NEOWISE was well clear of the horizon and higher than I expected.

The comet in binoculars (stabilized) was a stunning and wonderful view and was also an eyesight visible object once we were well and truly dark adapted although I struggled a bit and we both commented on seeing the tail clearer when using 'averted vision'.  For me, without binoculars would have been a problem clearly identifying it but perhaps it's just my old eyes!

Good to see you in action with the camera and how you focused and took the shots and nice to have the memory of the occasion with the picture(s).

The foxes added to the occasion and they were so bold and 'not bothered'!

The noctilucent clouds were a bonus and a first for a 'confirmed' sighting for me.

Thanks again for your company!

Best

Hugh

[Carole]

Thanks for coming with me Hugh and lugging my rucksack with the camera and binoculars while I carried the tripod and laptop.

Carole

[RobertM]

That's a really nice shot Carole.  The Noctilucent clouds were a very welcome bonus, this morning was only the second time I've ever seen them.

Robert

[Carole]

Thanks Robert,  Forgot to mention it was a crop. 

Carole

[Hugh]

Of Course, being a Moon and planets man, I mustn't forget to mention the wonderful quarter Moon and planets ~ Mars, Saturn and Jupiter ~ also giving a wonderful display!

With the stabilized bins the Moon craters were crystal sharp along the terminator, and although I couldn't quite see Saturn's rings, Jupiter's Galilean Moons were very clear.  All the 4 moons off to one side and close in with the two in the middle (or so it seemed) VERY close and almost seemed to be occulting each other.  So Callisto joining in.

Magnificent!

Hugh

[Carole]

Before we went Adrian looked out the window and said, I can see something bright, so I said "It's the Moon!!  No he said up there it's sort of pinky orange.  I said "That's Mars" and showed him on my Smartphone Sky view thingy app.  "Well you live and learn" he said. 

So another bonus to come out of this evening's venture, but I don't think I will convert him into Astronomy.

Carole

[Hugh]

Actually, thinking about it ~ it was almost an astronomy perfect storm!

So, we had a perfect Moon for observing, the planets Mars, Saturn and Jupiter (with Venus rising around twilight/dawn although we didn't view it), an almost eyesight visible (in London area) comet and noctilucent clouds all in an almost perfectly clear sky.

And Foxes!

Hugh

[Roy]

Carole, Hugh,

Fantastic result, sounds like you had quite a night! Just checked on Stellarium and the comet will be up about 10 degrees straight down are back garden tonight, so let's hope it's clear AND that we wake up.....

Roy and Sue

[Carole]

Thanks Roy and good luck, I don't think we could have picked a more perfect night for it, and we went at the right time. 

Carole

[Mac]

nice photo,

Tried tonight but it was a bit murky, going to try again later,

Mac.

[Carole]

Thanks Mac, any news of the move to Spain and sale of the POD?

Carole

[Carole]

Was awake at 3am this morning (mainly because I had a nap in the afternoon after being up most of the previous night for viewing and imaging the comet).  So I peeped out of the bedroom window and thought I could see Capella over the roof tops of the houses opposite.  So I grabbed my binoculars to see whether Neowise could be seen = JUST = the coma sits on the ridge of the houses opposite and definitely would not have made a good image, so good job we went to the park for the main event.   

Carole