Some in the media (of the click bait variety) hyped this comet as the “comet of the century”. It could have been, but alas, it wasn’t. It was still a great comet to see but it never turned into the eye catching grandeur of Hale-Bopp or Hyakutake back in the 90’s.

This one made its appearance in the northern hemisphere on the night of 14 October. Unfortunately, it was very low in the west and visible during late twilight. For me it was also behind clouds. By the time they had cleared the comet had set. The same was true for the next night but on the night of the 16th, I was able to catch it in the iPhone though I couldn’t see it visually, even knowing where to look.

The comet was fairly bright here. The sky was actually dark to the human eye but the nearly 5s camera exposure combined with a high ISO setting makes the sky appear just past sunset instead of 90 minutes later. Unfortunately for me the comet’s location put it behind the power lines.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday night the Shenandoah Astronomical Society did outreach events to show the comet to the public. On Thursday we were at Frederick County Middle School.

And on Friday and Saturday were at Shenandoah County Park.

I was only able to see the comet visually on the Saturday night event. The transparency was the best that night and the comet was highest in the sky. But, the comet had clearly faded since the closest approach earlier in the week. It was still a great view through binoculars or an 80mm refractor.

For the technical details (scant as they might be in this case) see astrobin.