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Did the ISS astronauts manage to grab film of the C?

They probably didnt bother, and if they did, I doubt the photos will be spread around much. The thing is, theres hardly any difference between seeing it from the ISS, or seeing it from the Earths surface. Telescopes such as Hubble get great pictures, but Hubble is a very advanced, specialized device. Only at these qualitites does it start to make a difference whether you are in space or here on Earth. But a camera from the ISS, is performing about the same as a camera here on Earth. Probably a bit worse even, as it will be affected somewhat by radiation that is more prevalent in space (though not nearly as bad as when the ISS would have been higher up). They have one advantage, though: they dont have atmospheric glare, or twilight. They can look close to the Sun, and the background will be mostly black. Yet here from Earth, during the day the sky is blue, and when it gets really dark, the comet will be below the horizon as well. Only when the Sun has just set or is about to rise, will you be able to see something through the twilight. So what they can see will be more impressive than what we can see here on Earth. But once you start using better cameras or telescopes on the ground, those pictures will be better than what you can take from the ISS. Finally, Neowise didnt start spraying its tail when it passed the Sun. It already started forming a coma and tail when it was discovered, in late March. And those became ever larger as it got closer to the Sun. But for almost a month, it got so close to the Sun, and behind it from our viewpoint, that it wasnt visible. Not from here on Earth, not for specialized telescopes, and not from the ISS.Only last week did it get far enough from the Sun, so we could start observing it again. And this is what they meant by first became visible near the Sun. It was visible for some time, but then we had a hiatus. And now its visible again.

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