Comet at Dawn

Comet NEOWISE Before Sunrise

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE has been surprisingly bright and pleasing this July! (NEOWISE stands for Near Earth Object Wide Infrared Survey Explorer - the Earth-orbiting satellite that discovered the comet. C/2020 means a non-periodic comet discovered in 2020. F3 means the 3rd comet discovered in the second half of March.)

On three successive mornings my drowsy body stumbled outside well before dawn at 3:50 am to set up a tripod-mounted phone camera in my backyard. The first attempt on July 10th was unsuccessful. The sky was clear everywhere to the northeast except at the position of the comet! In the next picture the comet was hidden behind clouds stretching across rooftops and treeline.

Bright Venus is peeking out just above the clouds on the right edge. The stars in the center are part of the constellation, Auriga, whose brightest star, Capella, is centered in the image. 

The next day, July 11th, presented only one momentary glimpse of the comet during a temporary cloud gap. An arrow points to the comet in the next image. You may have to click on the image to enlarge it so you can see the comet.

Finally, on July 12th, success! At 4:20 am DST I first detected the comet's tail rising above a rooftop. The next animation shows the rising tail along with troubling clouds approaching from the west during 8 minutes between 4:20 am and 4:28 am.

My backyard is a convenient viewing location, but it's not ideal. Neighboring porch lights reflect from vinyl siding even when I'm shielded from direct view to lights. I hunkered down behind fencing to escape most lights. 

On this July 12th morning the sky was completely clear except for one large patch of clouds initially not blocking the comet. It wasn't long, however, before I discovered the clouds slowly moving toward the comet. I used the zoom feature on my phone camera to try keeping approaching clouds out of the frame. The next animation shows clouds creeping in from the left defeating my attempt.

The time between 4:32 am and 4:35 am is shown in the next animation made with even higher zoom as clouds invaded.

The comet was rising higher, but clouds were getting closer. I wish I had stayed in one position with one zoom factor. Then I could have produced longer, more continuous animations.

The next single zoomed image taken at 4:36 am is the best image I got of the comet's head and tail.

As clouds moved closer I zoomed out to show a pretty scene at 4:40 am. Bright Venus is very close to the star Aldebaran in the v-shaped Hyades cluster on the lower right. Also, on the right above Venus is the Pleiades star cluster. Soon after this, clouds covered the comet as the sky brightened.

This experience is motivating me to purchase a better camera - a new, modern DSLR with good night sky capability. My phone camera is surprisingly effective, but limited. All the images above were made with 10-second exposures.

The comet is now moving into the early evening sky in the northwest. During summer months clouds usually build during the day, so a clear northwestern horizon is unlikely. But, maybe, with luck, I'll have an opportunity to get more images during the evening apparition.