Pic of the Day

Comet NEOWISE, July 8, 2020; 4:40 A.M., CDT

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4; 4 seconds @ f/4, ISO1600

Comet NEOWISE, July 8, 2020; 4:46 A.M., CDT

Nikon D800, Nikkor 500mm f/4; 3 seconds @ f/4, ISO1600

    I was up at 2:55 A.M. to photograph Comet NEOWISE this morning. The sky was very thick with humidity and as the clocked ticked toward 4:00 A.M. the fog was so thick I could not even see stars.  With the loss of visibility I packed up and headed home.  About a mile from the house I drove out of the fog to a partly cloudy sky, and with binoculars I found the tail of the comet poking out from behind one of the clouds.  The comet was by my estimation about 7 or 8 degrees below the colorful star Capella.  I stopped on the road, and as the clouds rolled along the comet became visible, off and on.  These two images were taken with the comet just above Horse Cove, near Gurley, Alabama.

This is the brightest comet I have seen in quite a long time.  It should be visible for another week, maybe two, to the naked eye from what I have read.  It has an orbital period of 10,127 years.  I really don't expect to be around to take photos when it returns so I am happy to have taken these photos.

A shout-out to Stan Burman who posted a beautiful photo of this comet on his facebook page yesterday.  His post alerted me to the comet.  Thank you Stan Burman.  You can see his photo on his Ffacebook page.  I have also shared it on my facebook page (Bobby Harrison) as well.