Introducing the 'Comet Collection' | Night Art

07/25/2020  |  Utah

New Release of my 'Comet Collection' series of three photographs of the Neowise Comet. Photographs taken 7/17/2020 and 7/20/202. Now available in limited edition printings of only 200 photographs.

comet Neowise over lake Uinta Mountains Utah
Psalm 19:1
Uinta Mountains, UTAH

Limited Edition of 100 Museum Grade, Fine Art Prints.

The night sky really puts things into perspective. We realize just how small we are when we gaze up at the vastness, it makes us contemplate our existence. I love the Psalms of the Bible and 19:1 just fit this photograph perfectly. The glorious colors in the sky, the reflection in the pond, the trees against the skyline and Neowise Comet streaming overhead made this for a night I hope to never forget. This location in the Uinta Mountains just off the Mirror Lake is one of my favorite to visit.

Shown as a 30x45 inch print in Roma Lavo Jet Black frame.


comet neowise over Bonneville Salt Flats Utah
Celestis
Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

Limited Edition of 200 Museum Grade, Fine Art Prints.

I have always loved gazing at the stars. As a child growing up in Cache Valley, Utah we would spend summer nights sleeping in the yard and fall a sleep watching the glory overhead. My love of the night sky never changed and now when the conditions are right I love photographing the heavens. This night July 17,2020 even though there were clouds in the sky and a fire burning near Wendover, Nevada we decided to head out to the Salt Flats and try our luck. Clouds and smoke hung in the air, the sunset was spectacular but I didn't think we had any chance of photographing comet Neowise. We walked in the dark out into the desert of crusted salt looking for a patch that wasn't tracked from vehicles. It was so bright we didn't need flashlights. My plan was to shoot the Milky Way because the clouds were too thick to the northwest. I had only taken a few shots when my wife exclaimed "There's the comet!" I quickly turned around and sure enough the clouds had parted just enough to see it trailing through the sky. I composed the image and started shooting. What an amazing experience!

This photograph was taken at 11:20 p.m and is a single 15-second exposure shot at ISO 6400 and f/2.8 with my Nikkor 28-70 lens zoomed into 42mm. I love the clouds in this image, which help give it depth and character as well as the purple glow from the setting sun, the crusted salt flats extending into the distance, the shadowed mountains and comet glowing overhead. This is exactly what I was hoping to get and this night the photography gods smiled down on me.

Shown as a 30x45 inch print in Black Liner and Roma Dark Ash frame.

Photographing the comet Neowise was truly a once in a lifetime experience and I was extremely blessed to be able to capture such wonderful images. Both nights I didn't think I would even be able to see it because of atmospheric conditions but it turned out to be a blessing of mood and color. From the Bonneville Salt Flats to the High Uinta Mountains both nights were full of surprises, wonder and not getting to bed until almost 3 a.m. It takes energy, patience and planning to pull off good photographs. I really feel like everything came together and my hard work paid off. I hope you enjoy them.

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.[3]

NEOWISE is known for being the brightest comet in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale–Bopp in 1997.[4] It was widely photographed by professional and amateur observers and was even spotted by people living near city centers and areas with light pollution.[5] 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.[6] Under dark skies, it could be seen with the naked eye[7] and remained visible to the naked eye throughout July 2020.[8] By July 30, the comet was about magnitude 5,[9] when binoculars were required near urban areas to locate the comet.

For observers in the northern hemisphere, the comet could be seen on the northwestern horizon, below the Plough or Big Dipper. North of 45 degrees north, the comet was visible all night in mid-July 2020. On July 30, Comet NEOWISE entered the constellation of Coma Berenices, below the bright star Arcturus.