Comet: Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)
Stars: Alkaid, 55 Uma, 57 Uma, 61 Uma
HR Stars: 4545, 4574, 4581, 4584, 4593, 4668
HD Stars: 103288, 106365, 107053
Planet: Jupiter, Saturn
Constellation: Coma Berenices
Satellite
Moon: 3 days after First Quarter
Identified, not Observed & Not entered into Logbook or database:
Aquila, Canes Venatici, Cygnus, Ursa Minor
Location: Home
Date: 2020-07-28/29
Time: 11:23 PM - 2:00 AM ADT
Equipment: Visual, Binoculars 10x42 IS, 10" Meade SCT
Eyepiece: Antares 2" Spears-Waler 30mm, SvBony 12mm eyepiece with 90° FOV
Magnification: x83, x208
Seeing: Good (3)
Transparency: Poor (2)
Temperature: 22° C
SQM: 19.11
No wind. Thin, high clouds. It was the first time I can remember being out that late at night in shorts, t-shirt and sandals! Jerry had set up both scopes - my 10" Meade SCT for observing and his Skywatcher Esprit 120 mm aperture refractor to take photos of the Wall in the America Nebula.
Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE)
With binoculars, I started with Alkaid in UMa and searched down to the horizon. Found NEOWISE just above the wiring to our house. As the evening progressed, it went down below the wire then disappeared due to poor transparency. Nucleus was very fuzzy; almost looked like a Messier object when seen through binoculars. The tail was barely observable and was considerably shorter than the night before. However, the comet did appear to be at the same declination as γ Coma Berenices.
Also used the 10" Meade SCT with 30mm eyepiece (x83 magnification). It didn't really provide any additional information about the comet or its tail. Not sure if we will have another night in the coming week(s) to observe it again.
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Jupiter
Used the Meade SCT with 30mm eyepiece to view the striping on Jupiter. Callisto was viewed by skewing the telescope slightly. The poor transparency made for poor viewing of the planet at this magnification. Also tried a x2 Barlow with a 12mm eyepiece with 90° FOV (x208 magnification) which gave me the view of the stripes.
Satellite
Time: 11:35 PM
A satellite crossed West to East through my FOV across the top of the comet.
| Coma Berenices Time: 11:48 PM - 12:07 AM Equipment: Binoculars The busy star field adjacent to UMa and NEOWISE was seen on July 18, 2020 at Evangeline Beach and on July 19, 2020 on Big Muise Island at Kejimkujik National Park. It got my curiosity as to what it was but I did not take the time to investigate. It continued to intrigue me so I decided to take some time to sketch the brightest stars I could see given the sky conditions. Coma Berenices was relatively low on the horizon so that the haze and thin cloud made for poor transparency. I used my binocs to make this observation and drawing. |
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Saturn Time: 12:20 AM Equipment: visual, binoculars, telescope Located visually then viewed with binoculars; could see the rings low on the planet's "ball." With the telescope, saw the orientation of the planet and rings and could also make out one of its moons (Phoebe). |