Comet adventures

[fbhjr]

Tonight, about my normal bed time, I decided to go off and see the comet that is in the northern sky these days.

I brought my app for finding sky objects, binoculars and a face mask.

At first I tried the parking lot behind the wings place across the street from us. It’s at the top of the hill and faces the right way.

But, there was a lot of light in that parking lot, so I could only see one star, much less a dim comet in the sunset.

I drove over to the other side of the hill where there is a soccer field without too many lights. Also as time went on, more stars came out.
What also came out was the bugs.
Not many people about these days, so the bugs only had me.
(Of course that wings place was full of folks not wearing masks, but that’s another issue.)

The app showed me where to look. Between reading glasses and binoculars I could at least see stars.
And, bats.
Tons of bugs swarmed around me. Enough that when I slapped my arm to get one, I felt several squirm.
And, the bats thought they had the best dinner lure ever.
At least half a dozen bats were circling around me as a swarm of bugs tried to land on me.

Then, a bright object came out of the west right overhead.
It moved fast, but I know a space station when I see one.
It took me a bit to get the phone and app going to confirm the ISS. But, it did indeed go right over, looking down at bugs and bats.

I did manage to get binoculars, glasses and me lined up to see the comet in the fading sunset.
I made sure to find it twice to make sure it wasn’t just wishful thinking on my part.

Then, I retreated to my car leaving bugs and bats behind.

I’m glad I saw it. But, it certainly isn’t that impressive without a long exposure camera...