On the 12th July 2020 at 01:52 I was working nights and heading back to base for a break. In the north west, low in the sky we saw a strange smudge. It was comet Neowise.
In the UK we have a moderate amount of light pollution which can make seeing the deep sky or faint objects difficult, even in North Derbyshire the cities, towns and villages lights can be bright. As we moved away from the town and down the country lanes the more severe light pollution eased with only the distant lights of Sheffield approximately 10 miles away. We pulled the ambulance over and looked in amazement at the comet.
Using an iPhone with a 10sec timed exposure I was able to get the image of the comet. Whilst not as good a picture that could have been taken with specialist camera and telescopes I was still impressed and pleased with the result.
One thing you cannot tell from the picture is just how dark it really was, it seems very well lit due to the timed exposure.
Comet Neowise – Staveley Lane, Staveley, Derbyshire.
After this night the weather changed and I was not able to see the comet again. At least I got to see it and this time had a picture to prove it unlike when we had the magnificent comet Hale-Bopp back in 1995 which looked amazing both with the naked eye and through binoculars.
July was also a good month for some interesting pictures of the sky.
These were all taken with an iPhone.