Stuff in the Sky

Well I can finally say I've seen the Aurora. Or at least my phone has. Seems like SWW is always just below the view line but the NOAA forecast finally had us inside the view area. Wasn't hopeful until I took a few shots. All I could make out with my eyes was a diffuse purplish/pink glow. Hard to tell being only a half-hour our so away from town, and with light/patchy cloud cover. Cool but pretty lame compared to what it must have looked like in the North Cascades.

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Yes, another incredible night. I watched for almost 8 hours. Only stopped for battery/card swaps.

Really fired up from 12:30 to 2:00am. Included some Alaskan-grade, naked eye green at one point for about 20 minutes. Top photo shows issues with fogging lens a bunch of the night.
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Gyrfalcon22 said:
Yes, another incredible night. I watched for almost 8 hours. Only stopped for battery/card swaps.

Really fired up from 12:30 to 2:00am. Included some Alaskan-grade, naked eye green at one point for about 20 minutes. Top photo shows issues with fogging lens a bunch of the night.
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Great shots, you can get a lens warmer for pretty cheap to help mitigate dew:

www.space.com

Best lens heaters: Why I think every astrophotographer should have one

Owning one of the best lens heaters can improve your photography — and you may be able to pick one up on a great deal this Black Friday.
www.space.com www.space.com

I have one, they really do make a difference, especially crucial on those sub-freezing nights.

cheers
 
Gyrfalcon22 said:
Caught the comet tonight. Hope Sunday's skies are clear so the tail can really show large

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Very nice!! We had guests so I couldn't get out to a spot with a horizon, hopefully tonight will clear up (forecast cloudy through much of the day), certainly some time this week. It is supposed to fade significantly through the week.
 
We also saw it last night from a north Seattle beach, hard to spot with the naked eye, we used a bird spotting scope. Great views of the raising moon, Venus, Arcturus, Saturn rings, etc, while waiting for the comet on a quiet and clear night. Some people had standard SDLRs on tripods and got nice shots of the comet and long tail. We did not take any actual pictures, but the kiddo kept busy with a headlamp sketching her take on the “cool” comet and the viewing party of “minor people”.

Bonefish Jack said:
What time and what direction?
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At least from N. Seattle, best view was about an hour after sunset, pretty close to where the sun set, from this location right on top of The Brothers before dissapearing behind the peaks.

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Bonefish Jack said:
What time and what direction?
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This one is nicely placed slightly off of the setting Sun -up and left. Look as soon as it gets dark 3-4 stacked fists high. It will drop into the horizon at a good clip.
Tonight will be higher and stay longer after darkness-as will every subsequent night. We have a lot of iffy weather coming the next couple of weeks, and the comet will be dimming as it moves from the Sun so the sooner the better for viewing opportunities in western WA.
 
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Fun fact: If you're above 40 degrees north, today, Saturday 7 December, is the day the sun sets the earliest, even though we are 2 weeks from the winter solstice, at which time the sun will set approximately 3 minutes later. The latest sun rise will be 4 January (2025, that is).

skyandtelescope.org

This Week's Sky at a Glance, December 6 – 15

The first-quarter Moon shines with Saturn, then the full Moon shines with Jupiter. Why? The planets are 90° apart, at quadrature and opposition.
skyandtelescope.org skyandtelescope.org

Cheers
 
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