I'm pretty sure I had never seen one before a couple nights ago. With all the comet articles popping up in my feed lately, I started looking into some of the more recent comets that have been seen in the sky. I remember hearing about Hale-Bopp when I was little, but I don't think I ever got to see it. Hyakutake was a really cool one, apparently. Unfortunately I had never even heard about that one, so I missed it as well.

Comet NEOWISE is visible unaided right now and will reach it's closest point to earth on the 23rd. It won't be back for almost 7,000 years. It's faint, but it's not too difficult to find. If you have binoculars, a telescope, or a camera with a long lens you can get better view of it.

Comet NEOWISE, the best comet of 2020 | EarthSky.orgA few observers in the Southern Hemisphere are beginning to capture Comet NEOWISE, too. Charts here for seeing the comet in late July and early August.earthsky.org

I took this picture when we went out. Has anyone else ever seen a comet?

I believe I have, but I’m not positive. Comets are super interesting with their orbits and all. And they are really beautiful! 💫 ☄️

Yeah, I find the orbits fascinating. This one wasn't discovered until March. How many are orbiting the sun that we just don't know about? This web page has a 3d model of the orbit of NEOWISE in relation to our solar system. The sense of scale in space is mind boggling.

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) | TheSkyLive.comDiscover all the most important facts and information about Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) updated in real timetheskylive.com

Comet PANSTARRS was visible to the naked eye back in 2013.

Here's my rather bad attempt at capturing it:

I did see Hale-Bopp, but I have no pictures.

Neowise C/2020 F3 has been cooperative, but the local weather has not at all - last night I captured three frames over the course of about 6 minutes opportunity, as the comet exited one cloud layer which is had entered near sunset, and then passed into a further darker cloud layer near the ground - still I did get to capture it, but it was not visible to the naked eye due to local light pollution. From my exif data it was only observable for about 8 minutes total!

photos.smugmug.com

photos.smugmug.com

I hope you get a better chance. I went out to take a look Saturday night and it was barely visible due to some cloud cover. But the night of the picture I posted was completely clear. It was perfect for visibility.

I did finally have a relatively clear sky last night, even if the humidity and the local light pollution remained.

This time I used an EOS R with a Sigma 50mm prime f1.4 lens, at f1.6 for 3.2 seconds at ISO 800. The image encompasses the Big Dipper and the comet C/2020 F3 immediatley below the Big Dipper and in line with a line through the distal edge of the cup inferiorly.

The comet was not visible to the naked eye when we started shooting - and even when we were ready to leave after 11 pm it was still not apparent to the naked eye, I think mostly due to ground light pollution. To see the comet on my LCD on my camera, I had to have a pretty accurate exposure, any under exposure and the comet was not apparent on the LCD, even with magnifiction. The abiliity to locate the comet via its proximity to the Big Dipper was a great help.

photos.smugmug.com

I like it. I'm glad you got a chance to shoot again, it turned out well. I had hoped to to try again and see if I could do any better than my first attempt, but I didn't get a chance to. I had never done any kind of astrophotography before and I didn't l do any real preparation or research, so I was just going off of memory of things I've heard before. I had too long an exposure to prevent the star-trails.