Saturday, July 25, 2020

Joshua Tree National Park (2020)


With the hopes of having a clear view of Neowise's Comet Parisa and I packed up the car and headed out to the desert. A late start and a line of cars still entering the park after dark we didn't have time to get to the vantage point I had intended, but found an dirt road offshoot and drove back a couple miles with hopes of avoiding light pollution from all the cars.

We knew the Comet was supposed to be in the northwestern sky to the lower-right of the Big Dipper now and best viewing is probably between 9:30 and 10 pm. The spot we found had a clear view of the Big Dipper however the lower horizon was obstructed by a mountain so we even tho the Comet was fading out I don't think we had a direct line of site from our vantage point.

We made the best of our time in the desert. We were greeted by a coyote that sprung across the road directly in front of us, insects singing, and perfect clear skies. We were able to capture a couple of good shots with the Joshua Tree landscape in the foreground.