APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

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APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:06 am

Image Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps

Explanation: Comet NEOWISE has been wowing photographers around much of the world during dawn and dusk, at the margins of day and night. For the most northern residents of planet Earth, however, the comet circles the North Star and never sets. The night part of this circular arc is apparent in the featured composite of images assembled from a webcam located at a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Images were selected at 30-minute intervals throughout the night from July 12th -13th. Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) will continue to become more accessible to northern hemisphere observers as its motion places it higher in the sky each evening after sunset over the next few weeks, as it begins its outbound journey. As with all comets, departure from the inner Solar System comes with inevitable fading. Binoculars are the best way to find and observe the comet visually.

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm

NeowiseAlps_salzgeber_960.jpg

Wow! Very interesting photo; shows 10 days of comet Neowise; but,
also city lights winding along through the mountains! Makes for a
beautiful scenic picture! :D 8-)
Orin

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:45 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm NeowiseAlps_salzgeber_960.jpg
Wow! Very interesting photo; shows 10 days of comet Neowise; but,
also city lights winding along through the mountains! Makes for a
beautiful scenic picture! :D 8-)
Um, not 10 days Orin, but only 4.5 hrs on the same night friend. The explanation says "images were selected at 30 minute intervals throughout the night of July 12th - 13th."
Last edited by BDanielMayfield on Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:45 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm
Wow! Very interesting photo; shows 10 days of comet Neowise; but,
also city lights winding along through the mountains! Makes for a
beautiful scenic picture! :D 8-)
"Images were selected at 30-minute intervals throughout the night from July 12th -13th."
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:27 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:45 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm NeowiseAlps_salzgeber_960.jpg
Wow! Very interesting photo; shows 10 days of comet Neowise; but,
also city lights winding along through the mountains! Makes for a
beautiful scenic picture! :D 8-)
Um, not 10 days Orin, but only 4.5 hrs on the same night friend. The explanation says "images were selected at 30 minute intervals throughout the night of July 12th - 13th."
I stand corrected; 10 photos of Neowise; Still very nice!
Orin

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm

orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:27 pm
BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:45 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:09 pm NeowiseAlps_salzgeber_960.jpg
Wow! Very interesting photo; shows 10 days of comet Neowise; but,
also city lights winding along through the mountains! Makes for a
beautiful scenic picture! :D 8-)
Um, not 10 days Orin, but only 4.5 hrs on the same night friend. The explanation says "images were selected at 30 minute intervals throughout the night of July 12th - 13th."
I stand corrected; 10 photos of Neowise; Still very nice!
Yes very nice. It dramatically shows how quickly this object is sweeping across our skies.
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:53 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm

Yes very nice. It dramatically shows how quickly this object is sweeping across our skies.
Sometimes I don't always read the whole explanation; (Bad habit) and presume 2-much! :oops:
Orin

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:54 pm

BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:27 pm
BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 12:45 pm

Um, not 10 days Orin, but only 4.5 hrs on the same night friend. The explanation says "images were selected at 30 minute intervals throughout the night of July 12th - 13th."
I stand corrected; 10 photos of Neowise; Still very nice!
Yes very nice. It dramatically shows how quickly this object is sweeping across our skies.
Does it? This comet is somewhat unusual in just how slowly it is "sweeping across our skies". It's been in the same constellation for a long time now. It can be imaged for a long time and it barely moves against the background stars. All we're seeing here is the motion of the sky created by five hours of the Earth's rotation. The comet hasn't moved significantly over that interval at all.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:47 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:54 pm
BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm
orin stepanek wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:27 pm
I stand corrected; 10 photos of Neowise; Still very nice!
Yes very nice. It dramatically shows how quickly this object is sweeping across our skies.
Does it? This comet is somewhat unusual in just how slowly it is "sweeping across our skies". It's been in the same constellation for a long time now. It can be imaged for a long time and it barely moves against the background stars. All we're seeing here is the motion of the sky created by five hours of the Earth's rotation. The comet hasn't moved significantly over that interval at all.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Broom star NEOWISE is "sweeping across our skies" at 4 to 5 degrees per second.

That is twice the rate of the last bright broom star Hale–Bopp.

The Sun often takes a month to cross a constellation.
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:03 pm

neufer wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:47 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:54 pm
BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:47 pm

Yes very nice. It dramatically shows how quickly this object is sweeping across our skies.
Does it? This comet is somewhat unusual in just how slowly it is "sweeping across our skies". It's been in the same constellation for a long time now. It can be imaged for a long time and it barely moves against the background stars. All we're seeing here is the motion of the sky created by five hours of the Earth's rotation. The comet hasn't moved significantly over that interval at all.
Broom star NEOWISE is "sweeping across our skies" at 4 to 5 degrees per second.
Not sure what you mean by that.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:23 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:03 pm
neufer wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:47 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:54 pm
This comet is somewhat unusual in just how slowly it is "sweeping across our skies". It's been in the same constellation for a long time now. It can be imaged for a long time and it barely moves against the background stars.
Broom star NEOWISE is "sweeping across our skies" at 4 to 5 degrees per second.
Not sure what you mean by that.
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:24 pm

neufer wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:23 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:03 pm
neufer wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 7:47 pm
Broom star NEOWISE is "sweeping across our skies" at 4 to 5 degrees per second.
Not sure what you mean by that.
I still don't know what you mean by that.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:28 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:24 pm
I still don't know what you mean by that.
  • The Moon passes through 13 constellations in a month.

    The Sun passes through 1 constellation in a month.

    Bright comets pass through a few constellation in a month.

    Comet NEOWISE is a typical bright comet.
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:35 pm

neufer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:28 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 8:24 pm
I still don't know what you mean by that.
  • The Moon passes through 13 constellations in a month.

    The Sun passes through 1 constellation in a month.

    Bright comets pass through a few constellation in a month.

    Comet NEOWISE is a typical bright comet.
NEOWISE is moving much more slowly across the sky than most comets. That's all I was pointing out. What I did not understand at all was your comment "4 to 5 degrees per second".
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:28 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:35 pm
NEOWISE is moving much more slowly across the sky than most comets. That's all I was pointing out.

What I did not understand at all was your comment "4 to 5 degrees per second".
You should have been more specific.

I had meant to say "4 to 5 degrees per day".

This seems typical to me (with the exception of Comet Hyakutake).
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:48 pm

neufer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:28 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:35 pm
NEOWISE is moving much more slowly across the sky than most comets. That's all I was pointing out.

What I did not understand at all was your comment "4 to 5 degrees per second".
You should have been more specific.

I had meant to say "4 to 5 degrees per day".

This seems typical to me (with the exception of Comet Hyakutake).
Well, I've been imaging comets for a long time, and this is the first one in recent memory that I could make long exposures on without tracking on the comet, because it is moving so slowly with respect to the background stars. Several minute exposures with normal sidereal tracking work just fine.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by neufer » Thu Jul 16, 2020 3:02 pm

Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:48 pm
neufer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:28 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:35 pm
NEOWISE is moving much more slowly across the sky than most comets. That's all I was pointing out.

What I did not understand at all was your comment "4 to 5 degrees per second".
You should have been more specific.

I had meant to say "4 to 5 degrees per day".

This seems typical to me (with the exception of Comet Hyakutake).
Well, I've been imaging comets for a long time, and this is the first one in recent memory that I could make long exposures on without tracking on the comet, because it is moving so slowly with respect to the background stars. Several minute exposures with normal sidereal tracking work just fine.
Well, it's probably the first (northern hemisphere) comet for a long time that was bright enough that it only required an exposure of several minutes (during which it moved but a small fraction of its larger size).
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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Jul 16, 2020 3:29 pm

neufer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 3:02 pm
Chris Peterson wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:48 pm
neufer wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 2:28 pm
You should have been more specific.

I had meant to say "4 to 5 degrees per day".

This seems typical to me (with the exception of Comet Hyakutake).
Well, I've been imaging comets for a long time, and this is the first one in recent memory that I could make long exposures on without tracking on the comet, because it is moving so slowly with respect to the background stars. Several minute exposures with normal sidereal tracking work just fine.
Well, it's probably the first (northern hemisphere) comet for a long time that was bright enough that it only required an exposure of several minutes (during which it moved but a small fraction of its larger size).
No, lots of comets that are too dim to see visually still just require a few minutes exposure to get something good. And this comet can easily be images for many minutes to bring out detail.
Chris

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15) - Story and Media Coverage

Post by astrograph » Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:47 am

Hi,

I am Philipp Salzgeber, the creator of this image.

the idea behind the image was to show the fact that C2020/F3 was circumpolar for my latitude at this time, not setting even when due north. After being a morning object, it became an all night object.

The company foto-Webcam.eu is creating a network of Webcams built with DSLRs, and a map shows their location and direction. I came up with the idea when looking at this image: https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/feldk ... 07/13/0200

A short search on the map (https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/map/) brought me to the Pizol Webcam (https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/pizol/2020/07/13/0320), which is located in a Swiss ski resort. I then downloaded the sequence of images from that night, and created the montage in Photoshop. After a day, I redid it as I was not happy with the color differences.

I was and am very happy about the image being selected for APOD.

After tweeting about the APOD I was asked if I would be willing to give an interview about the picture for the Swiss news platform fm1 today.

This is the article: https://www.fm1today.ch/ostschweiz/stga ... -138462354

Obviously this had a big impact. as the story was picked up by many Swiss newspapers, this Google search shows some of the results: https://www.google.com/search?q=Pizol+n ... Pizol+nasa

The Swiss were fascinated by the fact that NASA reported about a Swiss mountain.

The ski resort where the Webcam is located were so happy about the media coverage, that they called me and gave me two day tickets for the resort.

Austrian national radio also reported on the APOD: https://oe3.orf.at/stories/3005002/ I was alerted to that report by friends who heard it while driving to work.

Also the regional Newspaper in Vorarlberg (this is the province of Austria where I live) wrote a short article and included the picture.

This an article from the local branch of the national TV station:
https://vorarlberg.orf.at/stories/3058525/

So AFAIK newspapers and radio stations from at least three countries (Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) reported on the APOD. I also heard from a friend, that his father saw it on German TV, but I was not able to locate the report.

A local YouTube weather channel also reported about the APOD:
https://youtu.be/-LZfR4NruKo

I was surprised about the media response, as a result the TV station accompanied our astronomy club to a NEOWISE observing session, and I had to do a TV interview on the comet.

Thanks to NASA for providing the APOD service to the Astronomical community.

Having an APOD is a life goal for probably every astrophotographer out there, it is definitely for me.

My favorite headline was (translated) "NASA discovers Pizol mountain" in the Swiss national tabloid.

Cheers,

Philipp

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Re: APOD: Comet NEOWISE over the Swiss Alps (2020 Jul 15)

Post by astrograph » Wed Aug 19, 2020 8:52 am

Of course I also did some conventional astrophotography, which can be found here: https://www.salzgeber.at/comets/c-2020-f3-neowise/
There is also some more info on the APOD and how I created it.

BTW: The comet was so bright that it was visible in images exposed for a few seconds.

Cheers,

Philipp

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