Comet Leonard in the Morning

From the photographer: “As I thought from the weather forecasts, I had one morning to shoot the comet, and at -10° C ventured no farther than my backyard to use the mount parked there already polar aligned and ready to power up.

These were all between 5:30 and 6:30 am on December 10, from Alberta. The next morning, and the last to catch it pre-dawn from here, was cloudy. The evening appearance this coming week will be tough — lots of cloud and the comet too low in the twilight from 51° N, and too dim, to likely show up and make a good photo. The plan was a scene over the Rockies, with Venus. But I think not! NEOWISE spoiled us for comets! Click the second photo for a closeup view of the comet.”

Technical details: 135mm EF lens (for the vertical image) and 200mm EF lens (for the closeup). Both images are made using a star-tracker mount.