TBA
Comet NEOWISE
Bit of randomness-- starting off with a quick happy hour with Mike and his attention-hungry maltipoos. t'was great to hang out!
Also in there, take-out box from Kato. They don't call it chirashi, but it's like a crazy chirashi box-- ama ebi, uni, shima aji (striped jack), sea bream, baby abalone, ikura. Abalone was a bit chewy (as always), but other than that, very pretty and very tasty. And noticed, as I was finishing, the box was made of real wood (!).
Finally, comet viewing. Two different nights of C/2020 F3 (Comet NEOWISE) viewing, and one aborted night. First from one of many of Mulholland Drive's scenic overlooks, where it was just barely visible with binoculars or a camera-- it was invisible to the naked eye. Then tried the beach later in the week and got fogged out.
The third night resulted after feeling somewhat unfulfilled the first two nights: went out to Templin Highway/Quail Lake to get away from the city lights. The National Cement Quarry in the hills above the lake made for a surprisingly interesting background, although its bright lights presented their own challenges. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) is visible to the naked eye if it's dark enough, but those industrial-grade lights in the background made preserving night vision a (worthwhile!) challenge. In the end, an hour away from Los Angeles' urban light pollution, looking northwest over the farmland and mountains at the edge of the Central Valley, just a touch of clouds low on the horizon, and a few thousand feet high in the mountains, it was well worth the time.
Debated going out again to chase NEOWISE's tail instead of focusing on landscapes. Decided that without a faster lens and a star tracker, taking good photos of the tail was not going to happen on a weeknight. The thought of having to drive an hours to find a dark sky, being a complete n00b at astrophogoraphy, and the lack of sleep on a work night-- probably best to be happy with what I'd done so far!