Comet NEOWISE

[Rich Feldman]

Very nice pics there.
Monday was the first day in 10 that I didn't see the comet at all.
Spent an hour under a moving layer of clouds, attending with binoculars to the known location of comet
in case a thin spot in the clouds went that way. Couple of times I thought a local glow was showing through, but not enough to be convincing.

Anybody know if the electronic compass in iPhone and similar devices has an accuracy spec?
I've been using my trusty mirror compass to know which azimuth to look at, scanning up from horizontal instead of down from Big Dipper.

Old timers may recognize a vernier scale (my own design) to assist in interpolation between the every-2-degree marks on analog scale,
especially since the luminous index mark is about as wide as the scale pitch.
Here showing that the dial is turned to 1/2 degree above an even number. Specifically 142-1/2, opposite from 322-1/2.
(Original application was daytime trail mapping, with red arrow matched to white end of magnetic needle instead of having to add or subtract 180.)

[Bob Reite]

I've been clouded out the last two nights. Tonight might be a chance if the scattered clouds move out of the way by the end of nautical twilight here.

[Rich Feldman]

After clouds Monday and Tuesday, it was nice to see the comet again Wednesday. Followed it later than ever before, until 10:55 pm.

First pictures by me, after more than an hour of tinkering, while the comet sank into the mucky layer.
These were 8 second exposures, f/2.6, ISO 112, with slightly different pointing of camera.
There are a ton of colorful hot pixels, some real stars, and comet barely above & to right of roof gable.
The hot pixels are a familar problem that developed in this 20-year-old Nikon Coolpix 950 camera, last used in 2011.
Might be fun to try stacking software on a series of images like these. Or subtract an image taken in total darkness.

.
Here's the sad story.
My point-and-shoot camera (Coolpix 550) since about 2011 can't do the necessary exposure, nor can the 8-month-old starter smartphone.
Couldn't find my starter DSLR, a Canon EOS something from the generation before they had a video mode.
Dug out my first ever digital camera, which came with swiveling lens unit, super closeup macro ability, 2 whole megapixels, a 16 megabyte Compact Flash memory, and serial port for uploading (barely pre-USB).
It runs on 4 AA cells and loads them heavily (600 - 700 mA), so back in y2k I bought some sets of 4 NiMH cells and a sort of smart charger.
Tonight after seeing the comet with eyes, I found old camera but no sets of AA's with enough juice to boot it up, even brand new alkalines, and old NiMH after 15 minutes of rapid charging.
Switched to Plan B, an long-idle DC adapter plug for the camera, that connects by alligator clips to an external battery pack.
For tomorrow: find the DSLR and charge its proprietary battery pack for the first time in about 2 years. Or at least re-learn how to set the ISO in ancient camera.

[Bob Reite]

I finally got to see it. Haze was not so bad tonight, no clouds and after letting my eyes dark adapt for a half hour I was able to see it through binoculars no problem. It's barely a naked eye object at this point.