Trigger MMS

Last good nights for the comet - tonight and tomorrow night! The moon won't be a problem but the comet is fainter than earlier this week, so maybe harder to find but still a good object in binoculars or photos.
1. GET OUT OF TOWN. Be sure city lights are to the east of you. In a city you will see NO TAIL. Go with a group - more fun and you can take turns making selfies.
2. Find a location with a clear horizon to the west-southwest.. (This is actually LESS important now, because the comet is higher in the sky).
3. Find a location with some interesting objects in the foreground.
4. If you have a "real" (SLR camera), put it on MANUAL focus and focus on the farthest object you can find during daylight. Then when it gets dark, focus on Venus and tape your focus ring so you don't bump it. Put your camera on F/4 or so to get a large depth of field. I put mine on "aperture priority" and set it to UNDEREXPOSE by about one f-stop (play around with this). Put it on a tripod. (better yet, bolt it to a telescope but that's a more involved procedure). Don't use a lot of telephoto since that will require a longer exposure and more star streaks. I used 70mm for the scene and 120MM for the closeups. If you have a camera that connects to your laptop, it makes it much easier to be sure you have a good shot. (My Canon comes with free EOS software). Try not to have a time exposure more than 8 seconds or so... bump up the ISO setting. Of course set it on highest resolution and "RAW" so you can process the image.
5. Binoculars should also be on tripods so you can share the view when someone spots it. 7-8x50 or 10x80 is good. 10x20 is too small a field and very hard to find.
6. As always, red lights so you don't kill your night vision. A green laser is helpful - when someone sees it, they can point it out to others.
7. Newer Iphones work amazing well. Hold it as steady as you can, or put on a tripod, etc. It automatically stacks long time exposures.
8. if you can't do manual focus, put your camera into "landscape" or "sunset" mode so it will focus at infinity and not overexpose.
9. Once the comet starts to set, put yourself in the picture and do a selfie with the comet. be FAR AWAY from your camera so you will be in focus too. (Use the timer setting). Once it gets too close to the horizon it may disappear so don't wait too long.

The photo is an iPhone photo taken by Bridget Koester of Charlie Gardner. This was Tuesday night when he was illuminated by moonlight. I cropped it and reduced the brightness to make it look more realistic. Tonight there will be less foreground illumination which will make the comet easier to see but harder to do a selfie.

It may be several years till we get another comet this good so don't miss this one! (and yeah, sorry, comets are always brightest with the longest tails when they are close to the sun, so early morning and early evening are the best viewing times)