A final Look at Comet Neowise ?

 

After an afternoon of anticipation, I loaded the car with my refractor, the eyepieces, the camera and tripod along with a couple other essentials and headed up to the Wagman Observatory in Deer Lakes Park. I picked up a chicken salad on the way for my dinner. Arriving at 8, I was the first one there. 

Arriving early gave me time to find a geocache that was hidden near the observatory. Once I had found that, I started setting up.  While I was putting things together a young couple came up the hill and strolled around. They came over and asked where the comet was going to be.  My “new friends”, Lynn and Nathan hadn’t brought anything with them, no binoculars, just a blanket. They were just hoping to see Comet Neowise before it disappeared from view.

After getting things aligned and focused, I showed them the first quarter moon. Asking them to be careful not to touch anything, they carefully gazed into the wide field eyepiece. (Masks were worn all night.) Both were duly impressed. A short while later I showed them Saturn and Jupiter. By now the sky was getting darker and we could start seeing the stars of the Big Dipper. Binoculars came out and people started scanning the sky.  By now there were about 20 people on the hill. Tom Reiland had arrived and set up in the observatory. Due to the Covid 19 problems, there is only one person per room allowed in the observatory. This meant no visitors, only one observer per scope.

Tom, having watched the comet almost daily, saw it first. I managed to locate it in soon after. I was trying to find landmarks so I could return to it easily when I heard Arlan. She and Patrick had returned to take another look at this visitor from outer space

Comet Neowise (7.25.20) 10:18PM  125mm  f5.6   5 secs.

I wasn’t able to locate the comet by eye but after seeing it a couple times using binoculars, I was able to return to it after looking away. It was almost directly under Alkaid, the first star in the handle of the dipper.  Dropping down I came to two stars in line with my decent and the comet was just to the right of the pair. By the time darkness settled in there were about 30 people on the hilltop. There were a lot of cameras with large lens and a couple people had brought their “department store” telescopes with them.

Patrick set up his camera to get a few shots. I took a couple shots also but wasn’t pleased since the brightness of the comet had dropped and the tail wasn’t as obvious as it was last Saturday. (7.18.20) Clouds and haze were slowly working their way into the section of sky the comet was located in.  A little after 11 the crowd thinned out. It got quieter and even though clouds were moving across the sky it was still a very pleasant evening. The temperatures were very comfortable and it was nice to just stand around and BS for awhile. Talking to friends while craning our necks to see anything that nature decided to show us is a common Wagman stance. While we talked a shooting star or two were granted to our waiting eyes along with an ISS pass. Saturn and Jupiter were soon covered over. I BS’d for awhile with Tom and John, two members I’ve known since I joined the AAAP and then I loaded my car and headed for home.

Back in Shaler, I could see the Big Dipper but I didn’t bother trying to see the comet. Most of the stars visible at Wagman were gone, hidden by the lights scattered all around my hometown. I had seen Comet Neowise once more and I seriously doubt if I’ll see it again. Pittsburgh weather is looking rather iffy for the next few days.  I spent an evening with friends gazing at the skies above us. I spent some time exploring the terminator of the moon and also took a look at Jupiter, Saturn and the Andromeda Galaxy and shared them with friends in the process. All in all, another great night!

Sunday night, 7.25.20, 11PM.  I saw it one more time from my neighborhood. While walking the dog, balancing against a stop sign. It was a faint blob, no tail that I could see but then again, I had a neighbors porch light shining on me. I couldn't relocate it from the house. I'm afraid it is gone to me...

A COUPLE FACTS: In case you were wondering, the comet got its name from the telescope which discovered it. NEOWISE- Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. It was discovered on March 27^th 2020.The nucleus of the comet is approximately 3 miles across and at its closest point, (7.23.20) it was about 64 million miles away from us. It is now heading away from us but don’t worry, it will be back in about 6800 years. MARK YOUR CALENDARS!