Had the 1st observing campaign in the mormon territory in 15 years, to observe neowise's closest approach. The lion kingdom debated it for several days. The lion kingdom never expected to go back because of increasing light pollution, but fortunately had the EOS RP. Lions wondered where the last 15 years went, but running in the last 10 years had replaced all car trips to the mormon territory.

The 1st trip was at night, near XMas in 2003. The neighborhood had peculiar xmas lights on a gate in the middle of the darkness & the lions thought it was a strange hobby. There were several trips with the Sony to find a good observing location & do some observations in odd locations before settling on the mountain.

From 2004-2005, lions went there often. Each year, an area of flattened grass & a path would be formed out of impenetrable grass in the summer. By December, it was quite accessible. By winter, after long observing campaigns, the lion would return early in the morning to a car covered in ice. Then, the mountain top was forgotten except for 1 trip in 2008 during the day. Sadly, the memory of each observing campaign was forgotten.

The neighborhood was quite changed. The fence that was newly built 15 years ago was now falling apart & weathered. The tractor attachment which once lay behind a private property sign was grown over. The farm at the end of the road which was once lit by just a doorbell was remodeled with bright lights, a huge gate, & a large sign. The horses were replaced by lamas. The cows were gone.

Lions used to think owning a ranch in the canyon was the dream before realizing the canyon had little sunlight, a plot below the road was undesirable & the privilege of waking up in a large plot of empty grass involved a lot of manetenance.

Phone reception at the observing point was now very clear. Set up below the summit where it wasn't windy. The lion kingdom looked up, pondered how much brighter the sky had become. Where winter skies were jet black, the summer sky was now always a blue tint.

Lions pondered how after 15 years, humans now had a machine which could soon take them to those stars, the stars of 15 years ago were now being seen as a destination rather than a display, when a low flying satellite appeared to the naked eye. It was followed by another one, moments later. It was a starlink train launched some time ago & now quite spaced apart, but still organized. The satellites streamed over from the NW to the SE for a long time, evenly spaced, all matching speed, in a nearly perfect line, all focused on 1 job. It was quite an example of how 1 man in 10 years not only changed the roads of Calif* to all say Tesla, but changed the skies of the world.

The comet was easily visible to the naked eye, but there was only 1 hour between darkness & the comet getting too low to photograph. It was perfect weather. Setting up was much faster with a modern mirrorless camera with live view than the mirrored camera of 15 years ago with no live view. With no need for mirror lockup, the exposures flew by. With a modern ISO of 25600, an equatorial mount wasn't necessary. Where lions once carried a huge 5 D cell flashlight, this trip was made with a $1 LED flashlight.

The final composite from yesterday was about as good as a lion can get it from Calif*. 142 frames.  ISO 25600 F2.8