Comet Hunting

You know we've had varying levels of success with viewing comets in the past. We decided to try our luck again since there was supposed to be a comet around in October. So on Saturday, October 12, we went out in the evening to search for the comet. We went up West Mountain to where we saw the other comet in 2020. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy evening and we got up there later than we wanted to. We saw no comet but there was a gorgeous sunset.

We did, however, see the Y lit up on the mountain in the other direction. Nichole let us know this is the 100th anniversary of "Light the Y." I remember participating in "Light the Y" way back when I was in college.

And the moon looked cool as it often does.

That day was also International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. Often when that holiday comes around, I don't feel like celebrating in the way it's intended. That's a good thing. This year, I did feel it. I had my moment. I went back to my room, had a silent frustrated scream, then put together a shopping list and went shopping.

It was also Breakfast Burrito Day in Denver so we ate breakfast burritos to celebrate.

The next day, October 13, I wore my bow earrings because it was my cousin's birthday.

We had an at home potluck. It had been a while since we had one of those. These were the contributions from oldest to youngest: Stuffing, onion roasted potatoes, mint lemonade (not pictured), apples, and sour strawberry peeps. Jet didn't contribute.

Then we went for a relaxing Sunday drive up West Mountain, this time all the way to the top, to look for the comet again. As we drove, I mentioned that it was International Skeptics Day and Jeremy said, "I don't think the comet's actually a comet. I think it's a projection on the dome of our flat Earth." Heh heh heh. 

It became even cloudier than the day before sadly. We actually did get a glimpse of the comet through binoculars during a little break in the clouds. We weren't able to get pictures, though. We couldn't wait for the comet to come back into view, though, as we got chased off the mountain by lightning and thunder. Not so great on the top of a mountain.

Both nights had beautiful sunsets at least. The observatory was cool to look at.

What a view.

Both nights we drove by a house with some pretty fun decorations. Jet is really into Halloween decorations right now.

Jeremy and I did go out another night with Jet down to the lake and were able to see the comet again way up in the sky... without us being way up in the sky that time. Still no pictures.

A Failed (and not so failed) Adventure

When Jeremy and I were teenagers, we both had the experience of seeing Hale-Bopp comet that passed Earth. It was a bright comet easily seen with the naked eye.
Recently we heard of another comet, NEOWISE, that could be seen with the naked eye. A friend of ours got pictures one morning up Nebo Loop so we thought it would be awesome to go as a family to look for the comet.

We all got up really early because the sun comes up earlier in the Summer and drove up Nebo Loop. We got up to the spot we planned to look but unfortunately we couldn't find the comet. The sky was getting lighter and lighter. We drove to another spot and still couldn't find it. 

Sadly, sometimes plans don't always work out. The children were so tired, they fought, but I tried to encourage them. "You don't always get the blessings you expect but you can recognize blessings in your trials." We were up there for a beautiful sunrise. We were able to hear beautiful birdsong. We had time with family. We reminisced about that time three years ago we got up super early to drive to Idaho to go see the solar eclipse. 

Nah, it still didn't work. The tiredness won out and certain people stayed cranky. Oh well. We did see a hot air balloon as we were driving through Orem and could still see it when we got home, though, so that was another neat thing.

At a later time, Jeremy found that NEOWISE comet could be seen better at night. That same friend who saw it up Nebo Loop said she drove up West Mountain and got pictures up there. So my awesome husband planned out another trip for us and we drove up a non-scary gravel road (the road itself was not scary, not like other roads I've been on for birding trips. One of our children was uncomfortable with the drop off on the side of the gravel road, though) and we kept going up and up and up to the GPS coordinates our friend gave. It was a nice pulloff area probably used for camping. There was no drop-off where we were so I was not scared of the kids getting out of the van. In fact, Lucky and I even walked a little ways while Jeremy was setting up the tripod until Lucky pointed out spiders to me. Nice big spiders that reminded me of our trip to Antelope Island in August last year.

It was so nice up there. We had dinner before we left and the kids weren't nearly as tired. We let them take devices so when they weren't outside looking at the skies, they were in the van playing games and not complaining. Everybody got along, it was a beautiful sunset and view, we were able to hear birds (Jeremy heard a common poorwill and I heard what I think was a rock wren), and guess what. We saw our comet. As the sky got darker and darker and away from the lights of the city, we were able to see it better and better. It helped that there was no moon that night. All of us were able to see it (except maybe the baby who wasn't really looking but was still there for the experience) with the naked eye and even better with binoculars and we got pictures!

 click on the pictures to see them larger

Unfortunately, the camera Jeremy was using was still set up for the time lapse of the balloon build from the library so the pictures weren't the best quality but we still got pictures and we had the experience and our memories.

I'm on top of the world. 

Me taking pictures of the spiders.

Jeremy taking this picture of the sunset. Heh Heh.

Jeremy took some time away from the light pollution to take pictures of the arm of the Milky Way.

Nichole took some pictures of the city lights across the lake behind us.

She also got a picture of a cricket we saw on the ground near where the tripod was set up.

Driving down wasn't as scary since you couldn't see the drop-off in the dark and the gravel road of course was still good. Jet had some trouble because he was tired, didn't want to be stuck in the car seat, and just wanted Mommy (he's been particular and clingy lately). Nichole, Jeremy, and I sang Primary songs to him as we were driving and he eventually settled down and fell asleep.

It was a good family experience. I'm glad the kids did well (until we got home then some of them didn't want to go to bed and complained about being hungry and thirsty and the normal bedtime stall tactics). It was worth it, though.

Success!