Comet C/2020 F3 (Neowise)

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) or Comet NEOWISE is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit discovered on March 27, 2020, by astronomers during the NEOWISE mission of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. At that time, it was an 18th-magnitude object, located 2 AU (300 million km; 190 million mi) away from the Sun and 1.7 AU (250 million km; 160 million mi) away from Earth.

NEOWISE is known for being the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997. It was widely photographed by professional and amateur observers and was even spotted by people living near city centres and areas with light pollution. While it was too close to the Sun to be observed at perihelion, it emerged from perihelion around magnitude 0.5 to 1, making it bright enough to be visible to the naked eye. Under dark skies, it can be seen with the naked eye and might remain visible to the naked eye throughout most of July 2020. As of July 28, the comet was about magnitude 4.5, but binoculars are required near urban areas to locate the comet. The comet is getting further from the Sun and Earth, and a brightening waxing gibbous Moon is interfering with dark skies.

Here you can see some images of Comet Neowise from my observatory

Optics: Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 L

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Synscan Pro (belt mod)

Camera: Canon EOS 450D

Constellation: Ursa Major

Date: July 26, 2020

Location: Albireo Observatory (Korinthos, Greece) 

Exposure: 5x30 sec

Calibration: Darks, Flats, Bias

Optics: Vixen ED 81s

Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Synscan Pro (belt mod)

Camera: SBIG ST2000xm

Constellation: Ursa Major

Date: July 25, 2020

Location: Albireo Observatory (Korinthos, Greece) 

Exposure: 1x120 sec, L filter

Calibration: Darks, Flats, Bias