comet neowise
Jul. 18th, 2020 10:45 pmI was going to title this post "Comet!" but it wasn't like that.
Encouraged by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seasonoftowers' magnificent photo and this guide via the big dipper, I went comet hunting tonight.
You're supposed to look to the northwest horizon "just after sunset," and Portland has these inconvenient west hills. I pulled up a map to see where I might be able to get a clear view to the NW within reasonable biking distance. Oh look, the Willamette River bends NW right at the Broadway Bridge, which is a quick ride from here.
Just after sunset is around 9:15 here, so I masked up and headed over. Found myself a nice spot leaning on the north side railing, a polite distance away from someone with a camera and tripod setup, and settled in to wait. The water was rippling and glowing a bit in sunset light, and the Fremont bridge's elegant curves stood out against the red gradient of the sky.
I forgot that the sky stays lit up until 10pm here at this time of year. I haven't been out at night in 4 months. (My bike light held its charge, yay!) So I stood on the bridge and watched the sunset and listened to the cars and trams go by behind me for an hour and a half altogether.
Some young dude pulled up on his bike juust too close to me and fussed with his phone. I looked over occasionally and mostly ignored him. Then he started to play music on his phone. And stopped, and started again. I said, "Hey, can you use headphones?" He said, "I have to adjust it for my Instagram story! I'm not playing music! Why would I do that?!" with this outraged expression. I said, "I don't know! It sure sounded like you were playing music!" He rode off quickly after that. I guess I messed up his Instagram story? I have no idea.
I found a bright point overhead. Mars? (Nope, see comments.) It looked reddish. I saw a constellation slowly emerge near it and eventually decided it must be the big dipper. It was higher than I expected, and it's always bigger than I imagine. I looked underneath as directed, and saw a place that might be slightly fuzzy. Confirmed with my bridge neighbors that it was the comet at the peak of a triangle with two other stars. It was also higher than I expected given the instructions to look on the horizon. I was worried it would be so low it was obscured by the piers of the Fremont bridge.
So, I saw it. Fuzzily. Mostly with my imagination. I brought my binoculars, but I'm not very good at looking through them and can't focus on stars with them.
A nice woman who also stood slightly too close to me (why were none of these people wearing masks!) pointed out Jupiter and Saturn to the south, and showed me her photo of the comet, confirming that I was looking in the right place.
I keep thinking of Hale-Bopp, which kept me company on my walk home from BART in the midst of Oakland city lights. Someone said that was in 1996 and 1997. Wow, that's been a while. I remember it clearly. And good thing, since its like probably won't come again.
I'm glad I went, even if the comet itself was underwhelming. I might try again tomorrow now that I'm oriented. I could try to find a darker spot near the Columbia River, although then I'm in some dark deserted spot by myself at night, which... I dunno. Going to the Broadway Bridge, I wondered if I would run into a protest accompanied by violent police, and kept my bike right by me and my helmet on for a quick departure, but I didn't have any trouble of that sort.
Encouraged by
seasonoftowers' magnificent photo and this guide via the big dipper, I went comet hunting tonight.You're supposed to look to the northwest horizon "just after sunset," and Portland has these inconvenient west hills. I pulled up a map to see where I might be able to get a clear view to the NW within reasonable biking distance. Oh look, the Willamette River bends NW right at the Broadway Bridge, which is a quick ride from here.
Just after sunset is around 9:15 here, so I masked up and headed over. Found myself a nice spot leaning on the north side railing, a polite distance away from someone with a camera and tripod setup, and settled in to wait. The water was rippling and glowing a bit in sunset light, and the Fremont bridge's elegant curves stood out against the red gradient of the sky.
I forgot that the sky stays lit up until 10pm here at this time of year. I haven't been out at night in 4 months. (My bike light held its charge, yay!) So I stood on the bridge and watched the sunset and listened to the cars and trams go by behind me for an hour and a half altogether.
Some young dude pulled up on his bike juust too close to me and fussed with his phone. I looked over occasionally and mostly ignored him. Then he started to play music on his phone. And stopped, and started again. I said, "Hey, can you use headphones?" He said, "I have to adjust it for my Instagram story! I'm not playing music! Why would I do that?!" with this outraged expression. I said, "I don't know! It sure sounded like you were playing music!" He rode off quickly after that. I guess I messed up his Instagram story? I have no idea.
I found a bright point overhead. Mars? (Nope, see comments.) It looked reddish. I saw a constellation slowly emerge near it and eventually decided it must be the big dipper. It was higher than I expected, and it's always bigger than I imagine. I looked underneath as directed, and saw a place that might be slightly fuzzy. Confirmed with my bridge neighbors that it was the comet at the peak of a triangle with two other stars. It was also higher than I expected given the instructions to look on the horizon. I was worried it would be so low it was obscured by the piers of the Fremont bridge.
So, I saw it. Fuzzily. Mostly with my imagination. I brought my binoculars, but I'm not very good at looking through them and can't focus on stars with them.
A nice woman who also stood slightly too close to me (why were none of these people wearing masks!) pointed out Jupiter and Saturn to the south, and showed me her photo of the comet, confirming that I was looking in the right place.
I keep thinking of Hale-Bopp, which kept me company on my walk home from BART in the midst of Oakland city lights. Someone said that was in 1996 and 1997. Wow, that's been a while. I remember it clearly. And good thing, since its like probably won't come again.
I'm glad I went, even if the comet itself was underwhelming. I might try again tomorrow now that I'm oriented. I could try to find a darker spot near the Columbia River, although then I'm in some dark deserted spot by myself at night, which... I dunno. Going to the Broadway Bridge, I wondered if I would run into a protest accompanied by violent police, and kept my bike right by me and my helmet on for a quick departure, but I didn't have any trouble of that sort.
