Wife and I drove down the road half a mile to a field approach (our grove was in the way) . We actually were able to spot it. It is below the big dipper just about halfway up from the horizon beneath the two bottom side stars of the dipper. 30 ish degrees up from the horizon ... You could see it with the naked eye, but it was better with some average binoculars. A decent rifle scope would work. Kind of a smudge trailing a pin point of light. FYI 10:17 pm. When we spotted it... Should be visible for a coupleasure weeks. Lots of humidity in the atmosphere didn't help the view. Wish I was out west.
I heard about it being visible a couple of days ago, and have been going out to try and spot it, with no luck!
I'll be out there again tonight!
Thanks for giving a direction in which to focus on!
I can see the Big Dipper anytime it's dark and not cloudy!
We've been waiting to see it also, but it's been cloudy with thunderstorms the last couple nights here. Hopefully it will be clear tonight. We have a fairly expensive telescope that we bought for my stepdaughter when she went through her "I want to be an astronomer " phase. If I can find it, it should give us a pretty clear view.
Telescope will help a bunch, so would dry air.
Too much light pollution here so far, but will try again. Thanks fir the heads up.
So far, clouds, humid air, light pollution have shut me down. I'll keep trying. Last night was supposed to be the best night but cloudy here.
Can it be made out to be a comet without using a scope?
Can you see the tail without a scope?
All I have is a pair of 10-power binoculars!
Supposedly you can see the tail pretty well with the 10x bino's. May help if you have a tripod for them, or something to help stabilize.
I viewed it last night with 10X50 s. I could not see it with out the bino's. The location given is spot on. In WNY it was visible just before 10PM. A tripod would help. The tail is distinguishable but faint.
I saw it 2 nights ago clear as can be. Binoculars made it clearer for sure.
We just came in from seeing it. With binocs it was easy to find but don't think I could have found it without, directly below the big dipper.
Went behind the shop and viewed it tonight, barely visible without binoculars.
Very cool with the binocs.
Ed
Couldn't make it out last night, it was sort of overcast up there so nothing was clear!
Will go out again tonight!
Visiting with family last night, we were all able to view the comet using a set of binoculars,
D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/20727/comet.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1595156201)
Thanks for the diagram Dan!
I was looking in the right area last night, but all I could tell was that there was something there!
Like I said it was a little cloudy or overcast there, I could barely see through it!
Will look again tonight!
Wife and I stay out tonight in northern Illinois to see if it was visible and sure enough it was. Visible faintly with naked eye but clearly seen with our nicer binos. Very cool to add to list of things we have seen like meteor showers, total eclipse, northern lights.
Couldn't see any stars at all last night, the sky was completely clouded over in this area! ::)
I'm going to have to go somewhere to see it. The light pollution here makes it impossible. Last night was clear, but I really couldn't see any stars at all in that direction. It's just too built up around here now.
No stars at all, again last night! ::)
It was nice and clear last night, went out and it only took me a minute or so to locate the comet!
From my position, the comet appears to be going directly away from me!
Kind of reminds me of when I was in the Air Force and had the opportunity to look directly into the exhaust end of a jet engine!
Made me feel pretty good being able to finally see it!
Thanks for the reminder and nudge about the comet. Perfect night last night so I went out about 10:15 and had no trouble finding it. I could see it with the naked eye but it was faint, right where you said it would be. As with faint stars it was easier to see it if I wasn't looking directly at it. Kind of looked like a star with a long smudge above it. I had my 30x spotting scope and 8x binocs with me. Neither of them turned it into a breathtaking site but much easier to see. I don't think the spotting scope was really any better than the binocs.
Quote from: Chuck White on July 22, 2020, 06:38:19 AMKind of reminds me of when I was in the Air Force and had the opportunity to look directly into the exhaust end of a jet engine!
Have you ever read
Stranger to the Ground by Richard Bach? He shares a similar experience of flying in formation. Good book from someone who just flat out loved to fly.
Alan
Hello Alan;
I have a spotting scope, but completely forgot about it, BUT I will give that a try tonight!
The book you mention sounds interesting, but I'm really not much of a reader!
We had to drive over to a neighbors between two hay fields we could see the star but couldn't see the tail part to much haze.
I've been seeing it from my back porch the last few nights!
It is getting closer and closer to the horizon each night, likely to be out of sight from here within another 5-6 days!
Anyone out there still viewing the comet?
Last night and again tonight I went out and looked with my 10X binoculars and I'm thinking I can still see it!
It's the only orange colored "anything" that I can see in the NorthWestern sky, near the horizon!