This summer the planet earth was blessed with a visit of unforeseen comet named NEOWISE, discovered only this year in March. The object is roughly 3 miles in size and at its closest distance from the earth will be 64,000,000 miles away. Crazy how something so relatively small can be seen from such a distance. I won’t bore you with too many other scientific details but if you want to read more check out the Wikipedia page.
I spent three nights searching for and photographing the comet. First night was a dud, even though I unknowingly captured a photo of the comet. On that first night I was looking at the wrong location and didn’t do enough research to find that the comet was appearing directly under Ursa Major (Big Dipper). If you look at the image below, top third, all the way to the left of the frame you will see where I accidentally captured NEOWISE.
But one thing I was able to capture was an excellent lighting show, miles off. I absolutely love seeing storms in the distance. Hopefully with my new MIOPS Trigger I will be able to capture many more lightning photos in the future. Below is a composite of a few exposures for dramatic effect.
Venturing out on my second night, armed with a little more research I was much more successful on capturing the comet. As with any astrophotography, it’s as much knowing where to look as it is knowing how to operate the camera. I returned to the same location as the previous night. Setup my camera just in time and fired off a few shots. I was excited to know that the camera would be able to see the comet even though it was difficult to see with the naked eye.
I honestly haven’t been so excited to photograph something in a really long time. It caught me by surprise how pumped I was with just a few images. Perhaps it was because of the amount of research and planning I had done, to actually have an image work.
As quickly as I was able to work, the comet was equally as fast to disappear from view. Clouds moved in and obscured my view. Regardless I was excited. Happy for the photos. Happy for a lovely evening, alone in the middle of some cow fields.
On the third and final night I joined my friend Jim and his wife Pam at Chambers Co. Lake. Jim and a great photographer in his own right and we have had a couple photography adventures in the past.
While I may have come away with some good images, the experience was not quite as relaxing as the previous 2 nights. We were greeted with other users of the area that were, ummm not as excited about comet watching as we were. Country music, ATV’s, barking dogs, etc.
I will say that I am extremely happy with some of my images from that night. I loved being able to capture the reflection of the comet in the lake. Additionally, the open space gave plenty of room to work with. For that, I can tune out a little of the undesirables.
Final thoughts on looking for a comet. Space is huge. We are small. Nature has some amazing things if we are willing to stop and look. Research is always great (and necessary). If your original plan doesn’t work out, don’t be afraid to take advantage of what is presented.
Happy trails y’all!
