Tonight I headed out on a mission to see and photograph Comet Neowise. Neowise is a fairly recently discovered comet first spotted by the astronomers using the Neowise Telescope. Having seen the great comet of 1997 Hale Bopp as just a teenager, standing in my back yard in Scotland with my mother – it piqued my interest in all things extraterrestrial. I didn’t own a camera back in 97′ but the internet had started to boom and I saw a lot of inspiring photos taken by people from all over the world had got of Hale-Bopp. I decided then that should another comet visit our cosmic neighborhood in my lifetime I would get a photo.
Fast forward 23 years (more than a lifetime compared to my younger self being only 17 or so at the time of Hale-Bopp) later and I got my chance. Now living in the United States, I took the photo below in West Kennebunk Maine’s Blueberry Barrens. I arrived around 9 pm and noticed a few other cars parked. It was a great evening, I enjoyed chatting with fellow comet hunters and space enthusiasts. The shot is not as tack-sharp as I wanted it to be, but the good news is that the comet will be around for the next month or so, I will be back out many more times to try and get the best results possible.
These photos were taken on July 20th, 2020 at approximately 10:30 PM
