Neowise

It took two tries, but we finally got some pictures of the Comet Neowise. The first night there were too many clouds off in the distance which blocked the view of the northwestern sky. But the next night conditions were much better (there was even a nice breeze which cooled things off a bit). I met my friend John at the Two Rivers Park Bridge, which we had hoped would provide a good view of the bridge. As a bonus, it also provided a good view of the sunset and Pinnacle Mountain.





Finally the sky darkened enough so that the stars appeared, but the comet wasn't actually visible with a naked eye (I'm guessing because of too much city light). But the comet appeared in long exposures on the camera, shining above the waters of the Little Maumelle River.



I'm going to assume that the comet is named after Keanu's character from The Matrix, and it is the brightest comet that we've been able to see here since Comet Hale–Bopp in the 1990s. This was my reaction when I saw the comet on the camera:

Keanu Reeves Whoa GIF from Keanureeves GIFs

And a wider shot of the comet, including a distant view of Pinnacle Mountain.



And then the view from the other side of the Two Rivers Park Bridge, looking across the Arkansas River towards the I-430 Bridge and the Big Dam Bridge. It's amazing that you can see so many stars even with all the conflicting city lights.