Comet NEOWISE From Antelope Island

Comet NEOWISE is a particularly showy and bright comet. I tried to view it in my neighborhood, but there are just too many trees. So I started looking at nearby parks to see if we could see it from there when I suddenly remembered Antelope Island is Internationally Dark Skies Certified! I figured if there was anywhere I could see it, it would be there. So, middle of the night I just booked us a campsite for us to get a glimpse of it. It was a little dicey at first, but ultimately I did get to view it so, not a total waste.

We have come out to the island for star parties a couple times once or twice and I have gotten some cool pictures of the milky way from here so, yeah. It’s dark.

If you are here for the comet and don't care for sunset pics, you can skip ahead here.



On the way across the causeway we were greeted with the beginning of a nice sunset (Passenger Seat Photography (PSP)). But, is that smoke? Uh oh. That doesn’t look good.



Eek. Not good at all (PSP).



Weird shores on the Great Salt Lake (PSP).





More sunset (PSP).



With the marina (PSP).



Saw some deer on the way in (PSP).



When we reached our campsite we decided to enjoy the sunset.



Looking towards Freemont Island.



With a sunflower.



Great sunset. This appears to be a great spot to enjoy the sunset as we got to experience another amazing one doing the Lakeside Trail from here. BTW, you can no longer start that trail from here, unless you are camping here.



I was really starting to worry the smoke was in the way of what we came out here for.



Then, poof! There it was.Well, not really. I made some adjustments to my camera and was able to finally catch it.



Once I found it with a long exposure image, we were able to locate it with binoculars. And as it got darker and darker, eventually we could just barely make it out with our naked eyes.



I like the way this one came out.



Did you know this comet has ties to Utah? The telescope that discovered it was built here in Utah back in 2006 and was called W.I.S.E. which stands for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. In 2013 it was repurposed and renamed N.E.O.W.I.S.E. for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer. Basically it was repurposed to identify any objects that might impact Earth. On March 27, 2020 N.E.O.W.I.S.E. discovered comet NEOWISE (I didn’t realize it was that recent). Neat!



This is definitely cooler than Comet PAN-STARRS.



This appears to be the shot of the night. It appears to be the only one that I caught the secondary tail.



Here is a better shot of it over the Great Salt Lake.

We uh.. had some equipment issues so we didn’t end up staying the night. But, I got what I came for. I just wanted to see the comet! and I am thrilled I got a couple pretty good pictures of it. Definitely worth the trip out!