On a warm July night in Cole Harbour NS, I ventured to a school atop a nearby hill, set up my camera atop a playground slide, pointed it northwest, and with a 15 second exposure, captured Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.

It was small and fuzzy, not visible to the naked eye with the local light glare, and I wasn’t sure if I’d actually capture it, but once you knew what to look for in the long exposure, the comet was unmistakable. See it? Just above the closest house and the swings, left of the tree?

JPL orbit diagram for C/2020 F3 NEOWISE. By now the comet is farther out and fading, not to return for another 6,700 years, so I was glad to have been able to catch a clear night while it was still around. Add this to other comets I’ve managed to photograph: C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy and C/2011 L4 PANSTARSS.