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Comet Neowise { 17 images } Created 13 Aug 2020

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  • A selfie observing Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) with binoculars on the dark moonless night of July 14/15, 2020 from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. A faint aurora colours the sky green and magenta. The faint blue ion tail of the comet is visible in addition to its brighter dust tail. The ground is illuminated by starlight and aurora light only. <br />
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This is a blend of 6 exposures stacked for the ground (except me) to smooth noise, and one exposure for the sky and me, all 13 seconds at f/2.5 with the 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 6400. Topazs DeNoise AI applied.
    ADY-0820-b-53.jpg
  • Comet Neowise over the Three Gossips and Sheep Rock in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.
    JGF-night-Comet Neowise-US-UT-3551.jpg
  • A close-up of Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on the night of July 14/15, 2020 with a 135mm telephoto lens, and cropped in somewhat. But the field is about 10° high and the white dust and blue ion tails extend across the frame and beyond it. Some of the banding structure in the dust tail is visible. <br />
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VIsually in binoculars the ion tail was barely visible with a little averted imagination but the dust tail easily extended about two binocular fields, so about 12 °. <br />
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This is a stack of nine 1-minute exposures with the 135mm Canon lens wide-open at f/2 and Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 800.  The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker tracking the stars not the comet. Yes, the comet will have moved slightly against the background stars over the few minutes of the capture, but not enough to significantly blur detail at this image scale. <br />
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I shot this about 12:45 am on July 15, 2020 from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, latitude 51° N. The comet head was about 9° above the northern horizon. The Sun was 15° below the horizon, so still not astronomically dark. <br />
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The comet was also low in the north and so I have added brightness and color adjustments with gradient masks to even out the background, as the sky was brighter toward the horizon at the bottom, plus the sky also had some faint aurora adding magenta casts toward the bottom. Automatic gradient removal didn’t do a good job in this case. Plus despite being the middle of the night the sky was still deep blue this low to the north due to perpetual summer twilight. But I’ve retained that sky tint. <br />
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Stacked and aligned in Photoshop.
    ADY-NEOWISE-11.jpg
  • Comet Neowise and Balancei Rock in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.
    JGF-night-Comet Neowise-US-UT-3851.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 27, 2020 from the Columbia Icefields (Jasper National Park, Alberta) from the Toe of the Glacier parking lot, looking north over Sunwapta Lake, formed by the summer meltwater of Athabasca Glacier. So this is a portrait of ice in the sky and icy water on Earth. <br />
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This was my parting shot of the comet, as it was fading rapidly at this time receding from Earth, though it was still naked eye. Plus the waxing Moon was going to be lighting the sky much more in the following week. So this was the night! <br />
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While it was pale to the eye, the long expposure of the camera did pick up the blue ion and white dust tails very well. The ion tail extends about 15° and the dust tail at least 10°. The tails are certainly more prominent than in 99% of any comets we see any given year! So this was still a nice comet! <br />
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Red and green bands of airglow, some faint magenta aurora on the horizon, and some lingering blue perpetual twilight at his northern latitude all tint the sky. The Big Dipper stars are at top. Arcturus is at far left. The orange star at bottom is Tania Australis, here made a little larger by it shining through some thin haze. <br />
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This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 4-minute untracked exposures for the ground, with 4 x 2-minute tracked and stacked exposures for the sky. Stacking the images smooths noise. Tracking the sky prevents star trailing in the long exposures required to reveal the faintest stars and the subtle comet tails.<br />
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The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 24mm Sigma Art lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600 for the ground and ISO 3200 for the sky. <br />
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Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground; Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night. The foreground is lit in part by lights from the Icefields Centre buildings off camera to the right.
    ADY-NEOWISE-7.jpg
  • Comet Neowise by a sandstone tower in the Spires and Pinnacles section of Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.
    JGF-night-Comet Neowise-US-UT-3733.jpg
  • This is Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over the badlands and formations of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on the night of July 14-15, 2020, at about 12:30 am local time with it nearly due north and as low as it got for the night at this latitude of 51° N. A green and magenta aurora colours the northern sky also blue with perpetual summer twilight. Capella is at far right. <br />
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The comet’s dim blue ion tail is visible here extending some 18° to the top of the frame; the whitish curving dust tail extends about 12°  though it becomes lost in the sky still bright with twilight and the aurora this night. This is a classic comet! Very much the dimmer twin of Comet Hale-Bopp from April 1997.<br />
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This is a blend of 6 exposures for the ground stacked to smooth noise, with a single exposure for the sky, with the 35mm Canon lens and Canon 6D MkII. The ground exposures are 1- and 2-minutes at ISO 1600 and f/2.8, while the single untracked sky exposure was 20 seconds at ISO 3200 and f/2.5. There was no Moon, thus the need to take very long exposures for the ground to reveal details in the landscape here illuminated by just starlight and the faint aurora that was to the north and that was barely visible to the eye. Otherwise the ground would have been a featureless silhouette. <br />
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So, yes, this image shows much more than the eye could see unaided due to the long exposures, but that’s the point and attraction of astrophotography — to record celestial objects and scenes with more detail than the eye can see. Indeed, any exposure longer than a second is bound to show more than the eye can detect. <br />
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However, in binoculars the ion tail was barely visible, helped by knowing it was there. But the dust tail could be see to this extent, but in binoculars! However, the comet was still a fine sight naked eye, with an obvious tail about 5° to 6° long to the eye, despite the bright midnight sky.<br />
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LENR employed in camera on all shots this warm night to remove thermal speckling and colour ca
    ADY-NEOWISE-18.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) in a tracked close-up on July 20, 2020, showing the straight blue ion tail and the curving whitish-yellow dust tail. Even the ion tail was visible in binoculars and traceable out for 12° or so, or two 10x binocular fields. Here in the processed image it extends up into and beyond the Bowl of the Big Dipper, a distance of 20°. The curving dust tail extends about 15°.<br />
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A bit of cyan colour is visible around the head of the comet. The bright galaxies M81 and M82, very tiny here, are at upper right. The two pairs of stars either side of the comet head are Tania (left) and Talitha (right), in pairs with the two stars each labeled Borealis and Australis. They form the feet of Ursa Major, but are also part of the asterism known as the Three Leaps of the Gazelle along with another pair to the west off frame at left. <br />
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This is a median stack of six 1.5-minute successive exposures with the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 800 and Sigma 50mm lens at f/2.8, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker but unguided. Stacked and aligned automatically in Photoshop with the Scripts>Statistics function. <br />
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Applications of Curves brings out the fainter tails without blowing out the bright head. I applied extensive sets of gradient masks to help remove the sky gradients toward the bottom (horizon). However, inevtiably some sky gradient colours remain. An application of ON1 Dynamic Constrast and a high pass filter helped bring out the ion tail details and subtle banding structure in the dust tail. Other than that I did not apply any local adjustments to the ion tail to accentuate its brightness relative to the dust tail. But as always, the long exposure of a camera reveals more than the eye can see.<br />
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I shot this from Crawling Lake in southern Alberta on a near perfect night, though some light cloud or possible airglow still discolours the sky.
    ADY-NEOWISE-10.jpg
  • Another incredible sky this night!<br />
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This is Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over the badlands formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta on July 22-23, 2020, with the Big Dipper above. A very active thunderstorm system moving northeastward this night but well to the west of me lights the horizon. Parallel bands of red and green airglow tint the sky, as does the blue of lingering summer twilight. Even with the bright sky the comet’s blue ion tail can be traced up to and past the Bowl of the Big Dipper. <br />
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This is an exposure blend, with the landscape from a stack of seven exposures from 2.5 to 3.5 minutes long at f/2.8 and ISO 1600, stacked to smooth noise, blended with a single untracked 30-second exposure for the sky at ISO 6400 at f/2, all with the Sigma 24mm lens and Canon EOS Ra camera. The ground is illuminated by starlight and sky light only; no light painting was used here. Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky; Sharpen AI applied to the ground. Some light sculpting applied to the ground with a Dodge and Burn layer and a luminosity mask, to make the foreground less flat in lighting.
    ADY-NEOWISE-30.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) with the Northern Lights over the Waterton River at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, on July 13-14, 2020. This was from the Maskinonge picnic area. <br />
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This is a blend of a stack of nine exposures for the ground and water to smooth noise, blended with a single short exposure for the sky, all 25 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 800, with the 35mm Canon lens and Canon 6D MkII camera. LENR employed on all shots to reduce thermal noise this warm summer night.
    ADY-NEOWISE-27.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 22-23, 2020 below the Big Dipper and in Ursa Major, and with prominent red and green bands of airglow which were more obvious tonight than on previous nights shooting the comet. Even with the bright sky the comet’s faint blue ion tail can be traced up past the Bowl of the Big Dipper.<br />
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This is a stack of 5 x 2-minute tracked exposures with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 800, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. Taken from Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. An active thunderstorm was on the horizon below this scene, lighting the sky with flashes. Stacked and aligned in Photoshop. I’ve made only minimal effort here to eliminate the sky gradients and colours, but instead embraced them! The air was also dusty this night with reduced transparency.
    ADY-NEOWISE-14.jpg
  • Comet Neowise over Nefertiti Rock in Park Avenue in Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.
    JGF-night-Comet Neowise-US-UT-3761.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over a ripening canola field near home in southern Alberta, on the night of July 15-16, 2020. Light pollution from a nearby gas plant reflecting off low clouds and a rain shower adds the yellow at right. <br />
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This is a blend of a stack of three 2-minute exposures at ISO 1600 and f/5 to smooth noise, provide depth of field, and bring out the colours of the canola, blended with a single short 15-second exposure of the sky at f/2.8 and ISO 3200, all with the 50mm Sigma lens and Canon 6D MkII camera.
    ADY-NEOWISE-15.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) with the Northern Lights and a STEVE arc aurora to the left, all over the Waterton River at Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, on July 13-14, 2020. This was from the Maskinonge picnic area. The Big Dipper is at upper left. A very faint green picket fence aurora is at right above the comet, a characteristic of STEVE arcs. This was an astounding night for sky phenomena! <br />
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This is a blend of a stack of six exposures for the ground and water to smooth noise, blended with a single short exposure for the sky, all 15 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200, with the 20mm Sigma Art lens and Canon EOS Ra camera (with the Nikon-mount Sigma lens adapted to the EOS Ra with a Metabones F to RF adapter). LENR employed on all shots to reduce thermal noise this warm summer night.
    ADY-NEOWISE-6.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) reflected in the still waters this night of Crawling Lake in southern Alberta. A dim aurora at right colours the sky magenta. Lingering twilight colours the sky blue. A meteor or more likely a flaring satellite appears at right and is also reflected in the water. Even in this short exposure, the two tails — dust and ion — are visible. This was July 20, 2020.<br />
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The main image content is a single untracked exposure of 25 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 3200 with the 35mm Canon lens and Canon 6D MkII. The distant clouds, horizon, and water in the distance and in the immediate foreground without stars is from an average stack of 7 exposures, all at the above settings, to smooth noise.<br />
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I shot this from Crawling Lake in southern Alberta on a near perfect night, though distant clouds are lit by yellow light pollution.
    ADY-NEOWISE-28.jpg
  • Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over some of the eroded hoodoo formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, July 14-15, 2020.  A faint aurora is at right. The foreground is lit by starlight only; there was no light painting employed here. <br />
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This is a stack of 12 exposures for the ground to smooth noise, blended with a single untracked exposure of the sky, all at 20 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600, all with the 35mm Canon lens and Canon 6D MkII camera. Taking lots of shots and stacking them allowed the foreground to be brightened without introducing too much noise and ugly banding artifacts the non-ISO invariant sensor of the 6D MKII is prone to. An alternative would have been to take a single very long (multi-minute) exposure at a lower ISO just for the ground, but even then stacking several would still be best. <br />
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LENR employed on all shots on this warm night to eliminate thermal noise and speckling. ON1 Dynamic Contrast filter applied to the ground. Plus some dodging and burning applied to the ground using a neutral grey layer on Overlay blend mode to better sculpt the otherwise flatly lit foreground on this dark, moonless night. The sky is lit by twilight that is perpetual in summer at this latitude of 51° N.
    ADY-NEOWISE-19.jpg
  • This is Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) over the Horseshoe Canyon formation near Drumheller, Alberta on the night iof July 10-11, 2020, taken about 2 a.m. MDT with the comet just past lower culmination with it circumpolar at this time. Warm light from the rising waning gibbous Moon provides the illumination. The comet’s faint blue ion tail is just barely visible even in the moonlit sky and low altitude.  The glow of summer perpetual twilight at latitude 51.5° N still colours the northern horizon despite this being close to the middle of the night. <br />
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This is a blend of six 1- and 2-minute exposures for the ground at ISO 800 and 400 stacked to smooth noise, with a single 30-second exposure at ISO 1600 for the sky, all with the 35mm Canon lens at f/2.8 and Canon 6D MkII, with LENR employed on this warm night. Stacked and masked with Photoshop. Topaz DeNoise AI applied to the sky; Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground. Construction barriers prevented access to the trail down, which might have made a better image with a cleaner horizon.
    ADY-NEOWISE-20.jpg