{"id":25808,"date":"2020-07-15T14:08:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T22:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=25808"},"modified":"2020-07-15T14:16:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T22:16:59","slug":"july-14-2020-comet-neowise-from-moorpark-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2020\/07\/15\/july-14-2020-comet-neowise-from-moorpark-california\/","title":{"rendered":"July 14, 2020 Comet Neowise from Moorpark, California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Comet Neowise started to put on a show for viewers from Earth in the pre-dawn hours starting around July 5. \u00a0But, the moon was a bit problematic, and who wants to get up at 3 a.m., right? \u00a0I hiked up a hill in Moorpark, California, on Tuesday (July 14) evening to try my luck as the comet was now visible in the mid-late evening sky to the northwest. \u00a0As the sky darkened and as the Big Dipper appeared towards the NW-NNW, I tried to see if I could see the comet. \u00a0I could not. \u00a0The sky was pretty dark in that direction, but there was some marine layer haze, and the comet was very close to the horizon. \u00a0I pointed one of my cameras (the one with the 50mm lens attached) to the NW and took a shot. \u00a0There it is! \u00a0I could easily see it on the camera LCD screen, but still could not see it visually. \u00a0Oh well.<\/p>\n

I pointed my other camera and its 70-200mm lens towards the area with the comet, and started taking a bunch of photos. \u00a0the best ones were at about 115-185mm focal length, at f2.8, ISO 2000 to 4000, and exposure times of 4-8 seconds. \u00a0The marine haze gave it a bit of a orange\/reddish hue. \u00a0The images below are in reverse chronological order, as the comet set behind the Topatopa Mountains around 9:45 p.m. \u00a0I was surprised at how well the images turned out, given that I could not even see it! \u00a0If you find a dark spot and have good eyesight, you should be able to see it in the evening sky towards the NW this week (July 15-22).<\/p>\n

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