Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE pops up above the legendary St. Peter’s Dome in Rome: 10 July 2020.

We observed comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE from Rome again, this time capturing it above the St. Peter’s Basilica: another unique view, we hope you will enjoy our images.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE shines above the St. Peter's Dome in Rome - 10 July 2020.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE shines above the St. Peter’s Dome in Rome – 10 July 2020.

After our first meeting with this comet, we planned another one, this time looking for a single monument to pair with C/2020 F3 NEOWISE. It was not easy to find a good one, together with the right place to set our imaging gear and providing the right alignment. Finally we succeed and you can see the results here.

Again, all this was done at dawn, as the comet is still visible at the end of the night. I used one of my Canon 5DmIV DSLR bodies and a 100mm-f/2 lens, providing excellent features for this kind of imaging.

Here it is the setup ready to go.

All ready to go!

All ready to go!

I started taking images minutes after the comet rose and it showed faint on the images: when an astronomical object is VERY LOW above the horizon its brightness is DRASTICALLY reduced because of the atmospheric absorption. Think of the Sun at sunset: you can see it by naked eye.

Minute after minute comet NEOWISE was higher and higher, looking brighter and brighter, eventually showing to the naked eye with its dusty tail.The combined view of the comet and the St. Peter’s Basilica was a trilling one, continuously evolving and I was happy with the choice of the location.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE hangs above the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome - 10 July 2020.

Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE hangs above the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome – 10 July 2020.

I hope these images will make justice to the beauty of the show, hopefully motivating you to go out there and have your very own, personal experience with comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE.

The Virtual Telescope Project will show comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE live, online, next 23 July!

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