Beautiful pics: Comet Neowise taken in NH and a breathtaking Saturn shot from Hubble

Pictures of Saturn always look fake, I would love to see it close up.

originally posted by: Bigburgh
My friend mark lives down in Shenandoah valley. He has a way better camera and was willing to drive darn near everywhere he could to get a good shot.

off his IG.

Wow!

And your photos and post right above the one I'm replying to, was terrific.

Stay well, amigo...

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Riffrafter

No stars behind Saturn.

Thousands of stars behind comet Neowise.

Seems like it should be OPPOSITE.

Ah, the good old "why no stars" debate...
Saturn is a huge planet lit by the Sun, easily visible to the naked eye. They had to use a fairly short exposure to take a picture of it, hence no stars.
Neowise is much fainter and requires a long expsure.

^^^^^

What he said...

Thanks, wildespace!

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: Riffrafter

2 hours North of Thunder Bay Ontario, headed to the mine site I work at.

Very remote location.
No cell phone coverage after being in the highway for 15 minutes.
The only days you see vehicle in the road are early Tuesday mornings, or Monday afternoons.
Both days are shift change.

You *are* remote.

What do you guys do for fun up there?

Hunt? Fish? Get drunk?

I'm down for all 3 btw...lol

originally posted by: Bigburgh
a reply to: Phage

Yes i understand not seeing just right left up down from a tight prospective.

Off subject but it made me think of this.

Damn, paywall
www.nationalgeographic.com...

"Apr 24, 2015 · In 1995, astronomer Bob Williams wanted to point the Hubble Space Telescope at a patch of sky filled with absolutely nothing ... ( Robert Williams and the Hubble Deep Field Team (STScI) and NASA)."

Scientists pointed Hubble at a dead spot that light is not seen. Much like i was told to look below the Big Dipper for Neowise. With the right optics you can achieve your goal. Still I did not see with my naked eye, but it was there.

Music is calming...

I would like to state that I thought Hubble was directed at a point in space and the shutter was left open for a month. I must be mistaken as i can't find nothing but the 100 hours capture.

I would have given this post 100 stars if I could!

The Hubble Deep Field....wow.

That picture changed our view of...well...everything, actually.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: carewemust

I saw a Hubble image with something like 1,000 stars and galaxies per square inch.

How many stars do you see right next to Saturn when you look at it in the sky? Do you even know where Saturn is?

How long was the Hubble deep field exposure? I'll tell you. It took four months to get it. You cannot see much of anything that is in that image, no matter how good your eyes are.

Four months?!

Thank heaven machines and equipment have endless patience and give not a rat's ass about...well...anything & everything.

On the other hand, once we reach the Singularity - and we will, eventually - the sentence above is no longer operative.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: carewemust

There's no such thing as Santa.
You believed when you were 12?

C'mon, bro.

Leave the poor man's warm view of his own childhood memories intact.

Don't be such a meanie!

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Bigburgh

Kona proper (Kailua) is pretty well developed but they are subject to the rules. Seeing has improved a lot since Pele had her grand finale.

Lahaina/Kaanapali, forget it. East side, the more east the better, is good.

The Big Island is still sparsely populated relatively, no?

At least it was when I stayed at The Orchid resort on the Kona coast.

Spectacular resort. For those that aren't familiar with it, it was originally a really nice Ritz-Carlton resort which was then purchased by the current owners and upgraded - if you can believe that!

It was a 6 day, all expenses paid trip for my wife and I in 1998. I probably couldn't have afforded a 2 night trip at this place. For instance, they were selling cashmere sweaters in their gift shop - cashmere sweaters in Hawaii - for $900.

You can't make this sh#t up!

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: Bigburgh

Coffee borers. Nasty little critters that hatch in the berries and ruin them. Somewhat manageable though.
I think Kona coffee is sort of over-rated though. Kenyan, that's good stuff.

No actual private beaches in Hawaii and access cannot be denied. But some are more isolated than others.

Agreed re: Kona coffee. It's good, no doubt but over-rated.

I prefer a really good Columbian that I grind myself with a $20 grinder I got as a gift. 1 lb of coffee beans costs $5.99. Well worth it, in my not so humble opinion.

On a final note - I am *not* a Starbucks fan! Well, I do like their Sumatra Blend but it's so pricey. But it's dark, smoky flavor is almost sublime. I think I just gave myself a woody...lol!

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity
a reply to: Riffrafter

I recently had a fantastic night out with a bunch of friends up on the islands north coast to witness this, it was absolutely mindblowing, the whole evening.

Even though we took my telescope and digital camera, I didn't manage any shots as my telescope cam is no longer compatible with my laptop (haven't used it in years, it's lapsed

), and there was no memory card in the camera (was in a hurry and didn't check, I'll try to remember next time, lol).

We viewed from a beautiful spot on the Northwest coast of Jersey, known as Grosnez Castle, from 21:00 until about 01:00.

I did manage however a few shots from my phone around sunset from our vantage point.

The arch in the images are part of the castle ruins, the island in the distance to the left is Guernsey, and the island on the right just visible is Sark (my apologies if the images aren't the right-way-up, this phone hates me),

Here's a photo of Neowise taken from the same vantage point, captured by local photographer Grzegorz Kaminski,

As well as viewing the comet, we all (I mean everyone there, not just our small group) had fantastic viewing of Jupiter with her moons through my telescope, meteors, the ISS twice (still with a Crew Dragon docked, cool

), many satellites, and the Milky Way, damn, I don't think I've ever seen it so clear and bright.

Oh, and I found a glow worm too, lol

All in all, for someone who doesn't get out too much these days due to injury, it was an incredible evening that I'll never forget.

Thanks for the great post.

I loved your pics...you and I are not professionals, but we do the best we can, n'est pas?

And the picture by the professional photographer taken from the same spot as your daylight picture was mind-blowing!

I'm sure the pro used filters, post-processing, and a 2 lbs of salami to get it to come out that way, but who cares? I just want to see a beautiful picture and I have no problem with not paying any attention to the man behind the curtain, so to speak.

originally posted by: 11SK1180
Pictures of Saturn always look fake, I would love to see it close up.

I bet that's how our Creator felt when he made it.

Talk about a fun task!

a reply to: Riffrafter

The first two are always an option.
Even suspected of #3 will get you sent home for 5 days to get blood work to prove otherwise.

a reply to: Riffrafter

Another very good coffee is an Afghanistan dark roast.

I had a friend bring me some from Lebanon at Christmas.
I would had paid $50 for a 1 lb bag, it was that good