Clear Sky Opportunity For Comet

Still dim enough not to know it's even there to the uninformed, the Comet Pan-STARRS nevertheless registers impressively when exposed several seconds on camera. The top image shows the comet over the entrance to Echo Hill Presbyterian Church just north of Marion, Iowa around 8:23 PM, Thursday, March 21, 2013. The image is a 15-second exposure at f/5.6, 250 ISO and 62mm focal length. The bottom image shows the comet around 8:35 PM, six degrees above the horizon. The main image is a six second exposure at f/5.6, 1250 ISO and 102mm focal length; the inset was shot at 200mm focal length. C Avenue is in the foreground. All images look NW and show a steam plume from the Duane Arnold Energy Center at lower left. Air temperature was 25 degrees F in clear skies.