Monday, August 3, 2020

Fog Break



I was about to settle down to some reading last night when I made a shocking discovery: when I looked out the back window, I could see! 

For the first time in weeks, the gray wall of fog was gone. I got the crazy notion that I should go over to Grandview Park and see if Comet Neowise was going to be visible. 



Even though it's not that far away, I drove my car and sat awhile to watch a gloriously bright orange sun sink below the horizon. I watched in vain for the green flash. Once the sun was below the horizon, park visitors began to exit. By the time I decided to head up the stairs there were only three other people up there enduring a strong, steady and cold wind.

I craned my neck to look for stars emerging from the night sky, but a nearly full moon was rising and keeping the stars from showing off. I passed the time by shooting a couple of panoramas, one of Mt. Tamalpais and the other looking over the Inner Sunset toward downtown.

A little after 9 p.m. it was actually getting dark, but still there were precious few stars, and no sign of the Big Dipper, which would give me a clue as to where the comet could be found. I'd hoped to have a shot of the comet over Mt. Tam, but no such luck. If the comet's still around in another couple of weeks during the new moon--and we get another fog break--I might try again.

I made the images above 1200 pixels wide, and you can click on an image to see it full-sized (although for some reason it doesn't work with the Mt. Tam pic, maybe something to do with Blogger's redesign).

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