Tag: comet

Looking up.

This week we were treated to some interesting happenings in the sky. There was extremely high solar activity due to some large flares and sun-things happening. We anchored out on a lovely, clear Thursday night and I captured some of the far away glow from the Northern Lights with my iPhone. The only thing I could see with my naked eye was a faint rosy glow to the north.

I was pleased that I could get some shots, even though we were way down in Texas.

Taken with a long exposure on the iphone

This week, a comet is gracing us with its faint presence. It is low on the horizon after sunset. I was finally able to spot it through binoculars and grabbed a less-than-stellar shot of it from my Olympus camera with a long exposure on a tripod.

Comet C/2023 A3

Hopefully, I’ll get another shot at it before it completely disappears.

While not NatGeo-worthy, I do enjoy the challenge of trying to capture a glimpse of these heavenly sights on camera.

My first ever comet photo.

I have been waiting for an opportunity to see the Comet NEOWISE since I heard about it at the beginning of July.  When it was visible over the pre-dawn, northeast horizon last week, the sky Austin was overcast.  This week it is supposed to be visible after sunset.

Last night the sky was clear, so I grabbed my binoculars and camera and headed out to try to find a vantage point looking to the northwest horizon.  I found a parking garage that I thought might provide a view.   Since it was in the midst of Austin’s bright city lights, “visible” wouldn’t mean visible to the naked eye.   I was not able to sight it in my binoculars, either.  Instead, I took a number of shots using long exposure pointing at different areas of the sky in the general direction of where NEOWISE was supposed to be.  I did capture it in several photos.  Here’s the best one:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It’s definitely not NatGeo material, but I was excited to get it.   If conditions allow, I may try again.   If so, I’m hoping that my experience from last night will help me get a better picture.

 

Comet!

Comet PANSTARRS over Lake Travis.
Comet PANSTARRS over Lake Travis.

We were successful tonight!  The comet is definitely not as bright as it must have been just a few days ago.  I have seen some really clear pictures of it taken from Austin.  But, now that it is a bit higher in the sky, it sets later and so it may be easier to make out after the sun has set.  But it is definitely faint.  We drove out to Iguana Grill as the sun was setting.  I think we spotted it around 8:25pm, or about 50 minutes after sunset.  I was not able to see it with my naked eye.  We brought binoculars, and I was able to see it pretty clearly through those.   I used a 3-5 second exposure on my camera and was able to catch it faintly.  Can you see it to the left of the waxing cresent moon?
My first comet shot!