Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Photos of the Day #2: NEOWISE Above My Neighborhood!

Comet NEOWISE as seen from my backyard in Pomona, California...on July 20, 2020.

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Just thought I'd share these impromptu pictures that I took of comet NEOWISE from my own backyard in Pomona, California last night! The reason why I call these impromptu is because I didn't plan on taking photos of the comet yesterday... I was just taking my usual evening walk around the street when I saw one of my family members standing outside the house and looking up at the sky with his binoculars. Of course, it was a no-brainer for me to head back inside to get my tripod and Nikon D3300 DSLR camera to capture images of NOEWISE after it was obviously located in the sky! Here are the settings that I used:

Lens: 70-300mm Nikon telephoto lens
ISO: 800
F-stop: f/5.6
Shutter speed: 8 seconds
Live View mode on my LCD screen used instead of the viewfinder

I was thinking about going to Joshua Tree National Park tomorrow (when the comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 64.3 million miles, or 103.5 million kilometers), but considering the fact that I've had a very difficult time finding the comet on my own when I took photos of it on July 10 and July 18 (random strangers had to point NEOWISE out to me both times I shot pictures, and I still had a hard time spotting the celestial body with binoculars last night), I don't think it's wise of me to take a 2-hour drive to the desert when I'll probably be alone at the site trying hard to spot the comet in the sky...but we'll see. The comet should be high enough above the horizon on July 22 for me to take additional images from my backyard. It's Los Angeles County's stupid light pollution that will spoil these pictures, though. I'll think about it.

Comet NEOWISE as seen from my backyard in Pomona, California...on July 20, 2020.

Comet NEOWISE as seen from my backyard in Pomona, California...on July 20, 2020.

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