Worth Losing Sleep Over
There are some things that just don't happen every day. One of the brightest comets in decades is swinging past Earth this month. As I brainstormed to figure out where to capture it, Steamboat Point seemed like an obvious choice. Anyone who has driven Highway 14 would recognize this iconic peak of the Bighorn Mountains. It gets its name because of the massive rock face that sticks into the air like the prow of a steamboat. Even though storms were around in the evening, I was not expecting them to last. But lightning flashed to the north for the entire night. The red color is an effect caused by viewing from a long distance through the thicker atmosphere. At 2:30AM, the comet rose above the northeast horizon, tail-first. A comet's tail always points away from the Sun. The 67% moon off to the right lit up the mountain, while shadows added depth to the scene. Soon after this, noctilucent clouds joined the show, but that's for another post. By the time the sun rose my memory card had 1400 new images. It was a night very much worth losing sleep over.
- Copyright
- Kevin Palmer
- Image Size
- 5935x3962 / 9.4MB
- Keywords
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2020, Bighorn Mountains, Bighorn National Forest, C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, July, Nikon 50mm f1.4 AF-D, Steamboat Point, Wyoming, astronomy, astrophotography, blue, distant, early, electric, kevin palmer, lightning, moonlight, moonlit, morning, night, nikon d750, peak, sky, space, starry, stars, storm, summer, thunderstorm, trees, comet
- Contained in galleries
- Wyoming, Night Sky, Comets, Recent Work