and if you look to the south you can see saturn and jupiter
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If you’re still up, and have an uninterrupted view of the northern horizon, there is a superb comet currently visible - spottable with the naked eye, just east of north and quite low in the sky (or a little west of Auriga if you know your constellations) - grab some bins and take a look.
My wife managed to get a shot with her mobile!
and if you look to the south you can see saturn and jupiter
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Very interesting.
How do you know about temporary celestial visitors - is there an app?
In this case I was out walking the dogs at midnight (long story, but it's the best time) and spotted it in the north - "looks like a bluddy comet - but can't be, it'd have been all over the news... &c.". Got home and grabbed the bins and was somewhat blown-away!
It was detected by NEOWISE back in March, but wasn't expected to attain this visibility. It's also closer to the Sun than mercury, so wasn't expected to do much more than break-up fairly promptly.
With a bit of luck and clear skies it should be visible tonight - quite low on the horizon almost due north, moving higher and to the east as the night progresses.
Busy old sky last night - by 4AM Venus was up, Mars not far to the east of the Moon, then Saturn and Jupiter (if you have binoculars, 3 moons are visible), as well as the ISS.
I use Stellarium for general sky maps, and a variety of sources for news - NASA Solar System is useful but obviously US-centric. I don't own a smartphone, but have no doubt there's a plethora of apps.
how long it the comet visible in the sky for
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ok cheers
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Visible again tonight. Bear in mind it's not massively bright, especially with the sun still not quite completely setting from UK POVs. It'll resemble a vertical smudge of cloud with a not-too-bright star at its base.
IMG_8663.jpgIMG_2110.JPG
One of the comet and also Jupiter
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Better shot of the CometIMG_8666.jpg
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I use the SkyView app ... it’s an easy cheat to figure out what everything you can see in the sky is
Thanks, Earl.
I'm aiming to try and inspire the children to become interested in this area so that is very useful.
Nice pictures. What time was that?
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I was awake at about 4 this morning to let the cat in and saw Venus glaring out of the dawning sky. Absolutely stunning in its intensity.
I'll look out for the comet tonight, and have a gander for Mars and Jupiter.
I use an app called Planets that shows you what constellations and planets are visible at any given time. Just point it up and read the screen to find out what you're looking at. It's always been great fun with the kids on holiday, usually in the middle of nowhere so we can actually see the stars.
About midnight
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Thanks to a poor nights sleep I saw it from around 12 and then was visible up to about 3.45am
It was very easy to spot at 12 as it was heading north but by 3 it was going away north west which from my perspective meant I was virtually right behind it
A couple of links:
The latter gets a mention in USA Today:
As Comet Neowise makes it way across the sky, one visual artist created a stunning video showing the comet rise above Earth.
"Grab a cold beverage, turn off the lights, get undressed, get comfortable and pop this on the big TV. Consume whilst drinking," tweeted Seán Doran, the artist who created the video.
The photos Doran used to create the work came from time-lapse photography on July 5 from the International Space Station.
Doran told USA TODAY in an email that he sourced the images from a NASA database. The original 550-image time-lapse lasted around 18 seconds at 30 frames per second. He then processed and interpolated to make the stunning, 4K resolution, real-time video.
...and links to his video on YouTube:
If only the clouds will clear away as they did in Edinburgh.
See www.twitter.com/MrGGaw/status/1282971656143564800 and other tweets from Graham Gaw.
Lovely, I’ll get the scope out tonight if it’s clear with a low powered eye piece, hopefully try and grab a few pictures too.
Great starting point is a good pair of 10x50's binoculars, when you get used to them its amazing what can be seen in the night sky.
No need to blow a fortune either, I have a set of 8x40's in these Olympus bino's, very good for the price -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-Bin.../dp/B0000AKGX3
That's a very open question. Your budget and other circumstances will determine your best option...starting with "binoculars or telescope?" Better read up a bit.
On this forum: Telescope enthusiasts.
Or on a specialist forum: Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice.
Otherwise:
- Choose Binoculars for Astronomy and Skywatching
- Binoculars for Astronomy
- ...the same sites also cover telescopes
You'll also find guides on many of the commercial sites selling such optics.
Thank you PickleB and murkeywaters, it is appreciated and it'll give me something to read up on over the next day or so :)
Clear night tonight (well here in the south so far) with a bit of luck NEOWISE should be up slightly higher in the sky plus sunset will be a few minutes earlier helping the darker backdrop, get those bino's out all..
Well last night was a corker for viewing, very easy to see with the naked eye and amazing through a set of bino's.
I had a go at capturing it with a combination of 300mm lens and some wider angle lenses, its nice to see and photograph something that soon will be gone and not return for another 7500 years, a nice bonus but hard to photograph was Saturn and Jupiter, especially Jupiter with the moons showing clearly.
These pictures are just straight minor edits, the 300mm shots I'll have a go at stacking which will clean them up and make for a nice image (if I get it right!)..
Last edited by murkeywaters; 20th July 2020 at 09:44.
Very nice photos and I'm glad that at least one of us got to see it.
I took a look but it was either still too light or later the clouds returned. Plus being just south of London means that there is significant light pollution in the direction of interest.
Is it still visible tonight?
Excellent photos.
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Yes...and probably for a few more days (but becoming less bright).
See this link under "VISIBILITY RIGHT NOW" for "Given its current magnitude, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is visible to the naked eye under dark skyes, might require a small binocular from light polluted areas" and much more information of use.
Last edited by PickleB; 20th July 2020 at 10:25. Reason: insert 2nd para with link
^ great pics ^
Clouds have been unfavourable here for days, but caught a glimpse last night and it's very obviously dimmer than a week ago, so any hopes I might get a half-OK image with my toytown camera are gone for good. Memories count for more though.
Last edited by murkeywaters; 20th July 2020 at 11:36.
In the hour after midnight by walking down the street to get a better horizon, against the efforts of street lighting and the lights of London to mask it, with the aid of binoculars I spotted the second comet I've ever seen.
Great pics murkey, what time was that? I had a reminder on my app about 9pm but it was too bright so forgot.
Thanks, I started about 11.30pm and went through to about 1.30am, it was just nice being under a clear sky on a warm night, the comet was the star of the night (excuse the pun) but also seen the space station and satellites, a shooting star, Jupiter and Saturn.
I have to get out more on an evening and just take in what is above us at night.
Great pics murkeywaters :) unfortunately its still light up here in Scitland even at night time and then got cloudy later on.
Great pictures!
It's been a nice day, all day here, now the clouds have rolled in and rain is forecast anytime from now until the morning.
I went out at about 22:30 last night on my bike with binocs ready and I could not find the bloody thing.