2020-07-19 So I heard the news that you could see a comet called C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE). So yesterday I stayed up a little longer, and tried to see it.
I knew where to look, under the outer right of the Ursa Major or something. I was standing in the back garden, not the ideal spot given light and such, but there were clouds so I wanted to know if I could see it before heading to a more darker area. When I finally saw it, I saw it just barely. I took a photo with a long shutter time to confirm my findings.
And yes, it indeed seems to be a comet. But as I packed stuff to go to a darker spot, I noticed I could no longer see it. Then sometime later, I couldn't even see the Ursa Major. It was blocked by the clouds. Too bad, I would've loved to point my small Newtonian telescope at it.
Anyways, here is the low-quality photo of the comet. I dedicate this to the public domain. The camera wasn't completely steady, which explains the stars looking stretched. The dark thing in the bottom left corner is some foliage. The light from the comet does not seem to be completely white. Below a table of data from the original image, the image below is cropped. If you'd like to see photos of higher quality, see here!
Resolution | 4352x2868 |
ISO | 2500 |
F number | 6.3 |
Shutter speed | 2.5 s |
FOV | 12.8 deg |
Light Value | -0.7 |
Timestamp | ??? a few minutes after midnight(so technically, the same day as this post). |