A short photo story from an unforgettable night in July 2020.
On Friday night 11th July myself and my good friend James decided to hit the road and try photograph the popular Comet Neowise over some landmarks. Skies were crystal clear and we headed for the Blackstairs Mountains.
While the initial plan was to capture the comet over Mount Leinster mast, it proved quite difficult to get the angle right. After driving around for a few hours and now feeling a bit deflated from our efforts trying to line up an unobstructed view, we finally just settled on an open field with some small hills in the distance and a wide open view to the north west where the comet was clearly visible over the horizon.
What was to materialise in front of us was the most spectacular display of Noctilucent clouds ever witnessed, and of course an a once in a lifetime comet thrown in for sport!
James and I started getting excited when we saw the NOC clouds starting to rise in the pre-dawn twilight with my camera EXIF data showing 00:42 Sat morning. Over the course of the next hour they started to rise higher and higher as shown in the short timelapse below and with the comet as the rare subject, it was absolutely mesmerising capturing this phenomenon. A truly rare and unique night of astrophotography.
Below are the best images from the night. The spectacle lasted well into the early hours and faded once the early dawn light began to wash out the details.
In the coming days we were to find out that many other photographers across the Northern Hemisphere had also been out shooting and witnessed same including renowned Youtube educator Alyn Wallace. See Alyn’s video from the night here experiencing the same delight both James and myself did on the night. Absolutely buzzing we were. After the woes of the Covid lockdown and missed astrophotography chances this night certainly made up for it all. Probably one of the best nights under the night sky I ever had.