My son and I are on a hilltop just south of Polo Illinois. Slightly to the right of the big Dipper and one fist above the horizon.. actually quite low in the sky.

Which direction, John.

Renegade50 has my bag of doobage

I’ll have to get that back and check this out from my catfish pond observatory.

I am not seeing it with binoculars. Lafayette is about 25 miles away giving off a ton of artificial light in the comet’s path.

Did get a good look at Jupiter, could see three moons with my spotting scope and could faintly see the rings on Saturn.

Northwest sky. Find the big dipper and look way below it and slightly to the right. Quite low above the horizon. Maybe one fist above.

My son has to work early and we just got home. Too many trees on the northern horizon for me to see it here.

My son actually saw it with just his eyes while there was still a fair bit of twilight glow. I had to use binoculars until it got pretty dark, and then even I could see it with the naked eye.

The comet glow, or tail was quite a bit bigger than what I expected. Looked like someone pointing a flashlight up into a foggy sky.

Eventually my son got the spotter focused on it, and I thought that maybe I'd get an image with the cell phone through it. I've managed that a couple of times in daylight, but it was a no-go tonight.

This is my first comet sighting. All of the previous ones had me curious, but work, weather, or events kept me from them.

Seems that such things offer perspective. It's been here before, and will be here again.
Last time around was 3000 years or so before Moses lived. Wonder who looked at the sky and saw it then?
Who's gonna post about it the next trip around?

Can't spot anything yet. So, from the two stars that make up the end of the ladel opposite of the handle, downwards? Down and rightish?

Couldn't see it either.

I can see right now. Just as described above way below and slightly to the right of the Big Dipper. 10:40 mtn time.

How low? Still getting dark here, uhh to the west... .

Got great views tonight...very visible up here

My elderly mother was also able to enjoy the views...especially through the 8x glasses. Incredible really

Raining here, too many clouds.

I'd put the outside stars (pointing stars for Polaris) of the ladle on top of my fist. Then drop my fist straight down to the horizon. Then maybe one fist to the right. It should look like a smear of light in the sky.

Actually looks like a flashlight pointed up and to the right.

Clear sky in SW Idaho. I can see the comment really well with binoculars

I'd have liked to see this from the hill overlooking Copper Harbor. You near there Quak?

NADA.

It was low enough in the sky that when we had the spotting scope on it the scope was almost level.

Thanks John. Has gotten dark but some damned lights shining over that direction. I'll be in a better location later and will look.

Saw a couple of of meteors already.

Oh, I might be fubar here. Will be atop the Continental Divide a couple of times later tonight.

Look NNW

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.

What time?

Right now.

Starts getting faint in the morning light about 4 here MST.

Pretty low on the horizon. Those images Ironbender posted above were right on two nights ago.

Best before the moon rises.


Looks a little west of where it was two nights ago.

I just got a good look as it's pretty clear tonight.
Hardly visible to the naked eye, but it is very noticeable with my 8x42 Leicas.
As stated, low on the horizon, just west of the North Star.

Had to drive about a mile to get a view of the NW horizon last night. There's a strategically-placed tree blocking the view at my house. Still some wildfire smoke in the sky and of course city lighting, but wife and I both found it last night. Right at 10 pm. Could see the head and main tail but the haze kept us from seeing more. Still a beautiful sight.

I can see it easily from my back yard...once I get it located. Once I know where it is, I can just barely make it out without binocs. The binocs make it shine.
In the evening, it's straight below the the big dipper. It's moving upward and before the end of the month, it'll be in Ursa Major. If you're in the north part of the US or Canada, they say it'll be circumpolar, that is you'll be able to see it all night as it rotates with the constellation. I don't think it will be here. It'll probably dip just below the horizon in the middle of the night.

This shows where it will be on each night for the next couple of weeks.

Really helpful.
I like the direction (NW, NE) & pipper


What did you use?
Camera binocs?

You got your new Nike’s ready???


lol

Went out and looked at it tonight. Was clear to the south but a bit hazy to the north. Even with the haze easy to find under the Big Dipper with binocs, and visible to naked eye once you know where to look.

Thanks for posting or I would have forgot to look

Once in a lifetime, for some.

Meh, ain’t gonna see no comet from this deep here in the holler

It's rare to see any cosmic scene from here....usually cloudy/hazy enough to obscure 'em..

I missed it but my Brother didn't he sent me pictures.

Tag!

My wife and our son and grandson watched it last night!

Good view here last night.

The night I saw it was the last night clear enough to bother, locally. Tonight might be possible for brief stretches as cloud formations have been passing all day.

Wife & I went out on the pontoon last night and watched it from the middle of the lake for about an hour. Could barely make it out with the naked eye, but thru 10x binoculars we could see it good. There was no moon and the sky was clear. Also watched the international space go from horizon to horizon across the sky. It was a good night.

Great view last couple of nights over the Sawtooths

Is it still straight below the big Dipper at dusk?

I tried to do this one time before, Halle bop or some jive

Went back to our big field.

Shut the truck off. Started smelling smoke, hot exhaust caught the grass on fire under my truck. Started up moved and had to run back and stomp all that chit out with just my boots


pretty much fixed me on star gazing


Now....if I had an El Camino with some AstroTurf in the bed and a fire extinguisher......and a younger Paula Jones

Say when...

Midnight mountain time

Hahaha. Tff Slumbro.

Just got a pic from my brother in the mountains of N AZ. I'll see if he took it and if I can post it here.

I've got another from a niece who pulled it off her local farcebook page in the Sierras.

I can't figure out my camera well enough yet. Maybe I give it another try.

Picture my niece pulled off the local farcebook page where she lives in the Sierras



Pic my brother took last night in the high mountains of N AZ. (7000'+ )



Brother said tripod, either 4, 5 or 6 second exposure ( he wasn't sure on this particular pic), ISO either 6400 or 10K, and f2 @ infinity.

I'm going to see if I can figure out my camera good enough to get close to those numbers tonight, and hope the smoke plume from a fire 60 miles or so away is blowing the other direction.

Cool pics

I saw it last night at 10:10 PM. No matter how I tried to get my phone camera to "see" through the Minox 15X58 I could not.

I could BARELY see it last night (I think...). It's way too humid here, I can barely see stars at all, even though it's "clear". And the light pollution is horrendous, especially trying to see anything near the horizon. And this is here in "rural" Kentucky.

I was outside changing some water at 4 am this morning. It, and most of the big dipper, were below the horizon at that time. This time of year it's not fully dark here until 10.30 or later. Its getting high enough now to be in the dark part of the sky before it goes down. It's getting high enough now to get tangled in the Great Bear's feet.

Great pics valsdad.

You have the Nikon 3400 right? I'm sure you read the directions I posted above. Set it on S and turn the plain black wheel, until in the lower left corner it says 2"
That means 2 second time exposure.

I just figured out, the other thing, you have to hold the shutter button down for several seconds, to make it shoot. Push the button like normal and it won't fire you might have to hold it down for 4 or 5 seconds.

Those pics have me inspired!

Higher, brighter, and more easily visible...

Skies cleared this afternoon and we rode up to the ridge north of the house. Best viewing is supposed to be on/around the 22nd, but will take what the weather allows.

Great pics, Valsdad...

Thanks simon.

Somehow I missed your earlier post. I'll check and see if I can figure that out. Going to have to dig out the tripod first, 2 seconds is a long time to hold still, even with the built in shake correction.

Bright tonight. About 1 fist under Big Dipper. Easily visible with naked eye

Used some 10x70 Fujinon binocs and it really shows up

Great view off the back deck!

wife and I got out last night and got our eyes on it.

pretty cool.

Wife was home over the weekend. She's been spending most of July with the grandkids, near Edgerton WI while their parents work. Up til last night she hadn't seen the comet.

After she looked it over last night, I explained about the satellite that found it and why they called the comet "Neowise". She declared that to be a dumb name and promptly named it after herself.

Bet I'm not the only one with a woman like that.

It will be at its closest to Earth the nights of the 22nd and 23rd. It dims as it recedes from the Sun, so closer but dimmer may be a bit of a wash, viewing-wise (pun intended.)

It will continue to be visible, higher but dimmer all the time, for weeks yet.

No tripod no picture. And you can set it for 5 seconds, anything you want up to 30 seconds. I just figured out how to work it last night, that you had to hold the shutter release for several seconds to make it fire on time exposure, and when I figured that out I had a blood alcohol of about .10 maybe .12

These cameras are smarter than we are.

It's hard to get a good night photo here. We normally have too much dust in the air from farming and wind in the desert this time of year. The stars aren't as bright as they are other times of the year.

Higher and later than I thought...

Man, holding your breath for twenty seconds for a shot is nothing compared to trying to hold still with your finger on the shutter button for a minute or two while being ravaged by mosquitos.....

I remember when a remote shutter cable with a set screw worked on a DSLR.
And only cost about five bucks....

Is that the comet or a squished skeeter on the lens?

If your camera has a timer use it.

10 second timer and propping it up on a truck roof is the ultimate Hillbilly tripod and remote shutter cable work around.

I have always been a "auto" guy with my Nikon...Don't know a ISO from nothing.. Did some research on YouTube and got some kind of idea,then ventured out into the night..

Thanks for the help with trying to get settings straightened out on the camera guys.

Not going to do any good now as we've had wildfires bust out the past 3-4 days.

Beautiful sunsets, but between the smoke and fire induced pop-up thunderheads it's hard to see a star in the sky.

Nice pics santiam.

A happy surprise we were able to find it with binocs from a buddy’s house in N Austin this evening, again not ideal conditions; light pollution and high haze but enough to find that fuzzy blur with a faint tail.

Out of the question back here in SA, city lights way too bright.

Eleven miles S of Bandera on rural Hwy 173, high humid haze on what passes for a clear night in the summertime in South Texas. Comet progressing with remarkable speed as I suppose comets are prone to do. Just last night it was distinctly below the level of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) in the sky, now it can be found by looking at the bottom two stars of the Big Dipper relative to the horizon and then simply moving the binocs over to the left.

Clearly seen through binoculars, barely visible now that I know where to look with my 63-year-old eyes without binoculars as long as I stay off my foveas and use my peripheral vision.

Here's a moon shot.

We had a kid on a school trip do that on the back window of a school bus one time, in traffic on the Loop

Numbnuts failed to consider that the District name and bus number was also right there on the back of the bus, so the Superintendent’s Office started getting calls.....

I saw it last night. I had to drive about a mile, to where there was an open field, and I had a view to the north. It took a while but I spotted it with binoculars, it was slightly below the big dipper, and to the left of it.
They call this area the "Smoky Mountains" and we usually have a haze even on a clear night like last night. The comet was not much to see, as y'all said like a flashlight pointed upward. A dim flashlight, the thing just looked like a smudge. I tried to get some photos with the Nikon but it didn't work.

Made me wish I was back in Steamboat Springs for an hour.

Yup, as Simon says, it is now little more than a tiny fuzzball smudge. I couldn't even see a tail last night even through binos in our slightly smoky air. I won't bother to try again; it's gone.

It was too dark to collect enough light at timer lengths...
Probably should have taken off the polarizer...