Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 26, 2020 from the area of Saskatchewan River Crossing in Banff National Park, Alberta. It was from near here that scientist and explorer James Hector, member of the 1858-59 Palliser Expediton, observed Comet Donati on September 10, 1858 as they made their way up the valleys of the Bow, Mistaya, Howse and Saskatchewan Rivers, as part of a British scientific expedition to map the area and much of southern Alberta. Mount Wilson at right is lit in part by the setting Moon out of sight behind the foreground hill and by lingering summer twilight lighting the horizon over the Saskatchewan River valley at centre. This is an exposure blend of a stack of 4 x 2-minute untracked exposures for the ground at ISO 200, with 3 x 1-minute tracked and stacked exposures at ISO 400 for the sky. Stacking the images smooths noise. Tracking the sky prevents star trailing in the long exposures needed to reveal lots of stars and the fading comet well. The camera was on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. For the ground shots I simply turned the tracker motor off. All with the 35mm Canon Art lens at f/2.8 and Canon EOS Ra. Topaz Sharpen AI applied to the ground. In camera LENR employed on all shots on this warm night.
Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) on July 25-63, 2020 in a telephoto lens close-up with the dust tail shorter but still prominent but the blue ion tail now fading. However, the head is now very prominently cyan from the glow of diatomic carbon molecules. The comet was closest to Earth July 23 and was receding rapidly when this was taken. This is a stack of 6 x 1.5-minute tracked exposures with the 200mm L-series Canon lens plus 1.4x telextender for 280mm focal length at f/4 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1600, on the iOptron SkyGuider Pro tracker. A short 30-second exposure layered and masked in for just the head to prevent it from being too bright and overexposed. Shot from home. Stacked and aligned on stars in Photoshop.
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. 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.
