Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire comet neowise visible now

Big f'ing interstate exit lights are screwing me! Damned DOT!

Thanks John for the reminder. Couldn't find it in the am the other day. Started looking too far N tonight using a 50 + year old set of Monkey Ward 7x35 binocs I keep around for quick checks on stuff near the house. Had a hard time, then saw a streak. Sure as shinola, there it was.

Tried to get a pic with my 300mm lens, but I don't know how to set the camera for shooting at night. Won't release the shutter on "auto" function. Have a bro that knows cameras, hoping to get some help from him for tomorrow.

Then got the better set of 18 year old Pentax 10x50's out and a much better look at it.

Tail was way more visible than I thought it would be. Too bad it's so low on the horizon and so early. An hour ago and it was still pretty light in that direction as the sun is still pretty far north for this location.

Put exposure on b and hold it open for 45 seconds. Or something.

Supposedly this comet drops below our horizon as the night progresses, then reappears in the early morning hours in the northeast. I'm guessing that it will still be in the vicinity of the big dipper, but am not sure.

Reportedly was only visible in the morning hours until a few days ago.

Couldn't see it from the Delta. Too low in sky and marine layer was probably blocking it.

Web site I'm using to find it is showing it gaining elevation each night.

Was nice to be several miles out of the city on such a beautiful night.

i'll head back out in a few days.

UH......................Okie Dokie.

Well, it ain't no Hale-Bopp,

What kind of camera? B is for bulb. Old school for opening the shutter as long as you hold it.. LOL

Got a quick course in binocular light gathering tonight. We had my leupold 8X42 imports and my Steiner 8X22 compacts.

Both of these did pretty well for looking at the comet. But my son wears glasses and prefers the larger binocular as it's easier for him to use. I was using the 8X22s and thought I was seeing about all there was to see.

When my son got behind the spotter, I picked up the 8X42 Leupolds. WOW! What a difference...

I have never owned a truly high end binocular, but am sorely tempted...

Nikon 3400, Nikor 70-300 Lens.

Black if that helps.

Oh, if I'm going to hold the shutter open that long, I better invest in a tripod or see if the one for my spotter would work.

Maybe I can rest it on a fencepost and pray.

Yah. You need to be steady. Probably has a manual mode. B for exposure, wide open on aperture, manual focus infinity. LOL

I think I can see the tail with the front over the horizon?

Anyway, got me looking up. Right here right now is the best star scene I've had in years. Even better than it was last winter on the North Slope, well, warmer for sure.

Early morning:




Evening:

Sure as heck.

Thanks guys. Looking just like IB's morning pic,

I woke up at 4:30 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. Should have gone out to take a peek, but I forgot about the comet.

0400 was pretty good. Faint by 0445 here on mountain time.

Um, turn around. It's in the other direction.
I was out the other morning and could see Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Mars. There were clouds where the comet would be, though. I finally saw it last night but the sky's still too bright to see it without binocs. Hopefully that'll change in the next week as it get higher in the evening sky.

While out “flushing” irrigation filters last night at about 23:00hrs, I finally thought to look for it! It was pretty low on the horizon and pretty distinctive....but, being that low on the horizon, I’m sure the image was pretty badly diffused by atmosphere! The wife and I looked at it with binoculars for a little while! memtb

Here is the source of all info, of course, a youtube video for your Nikon. How to do time exposure.
I have virtually the same camera, I have the 3500. You can set it up to 30 seconds time exposure, very easy.
Yes you need a tripod.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV79PQGLiek

It is a 4 1/2 minute video but you learn time exposure in about a minute.

To boil it down, you set the main dial on top on "S" for shutter.
The little black plain wheel dial on top, you start to turn it. On the lower left of your screen will be shutter speed. Might be 1/60. That means one sixtieth of a second.
Keep turning it to lower numbers, 1/30, then 1/15. You will get to where it says on the lower left screen 2" That means 2 second time exposure.
You can run that right up to 30" a 30 second time exposure.

I went out east of town last night to find dark skies. Not ideal, humid, a slight have, but there below the ladle of the Big Dipper, just above the horizon in the NNW, a slanted fuzzy spot that appeared to have two tails, or a forked tail..Almost lost in the haze. Glad I brought the good binocs.

Of course the further you are north the higher in the sky it will be, and I could tell it would look nice in a clear sky. Still supposed to hang in there another week, but no telling how bright it will be. Comets are like that.