Pan-STARRS Almost Didn't Pan Out

I stood along this roadside about 3.5 miles north of Marion, Iowa for over an hour, waiting to catch a glimpse of the dim, but slowly brightening comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) on the evening of Wednesday, March 13, 2013. I took several shots and different exposure times in the general direction of the comet, but during this time I never actually glimpsed it with my naked eye (okay, I was wearing glasses). I was getting very cold standing in the 26 degree F air temperature and NW winds of 8 mph and was upset that I wasn't seeing anything. I finally gave up, thinking that the comet must by this time be too low in the sky, packed it up and headed home. To my surprise, the comet (center in image) registered by shooting time exposures. This image is a 4.7-second exposure at f/7.1, 320 ISO and 44mm focal length. It looks west from White Road, a half-mile between County Highway W58 (in the distance) and North Marion Road. The time was 8:00 PM CDT. The comet is about 5 degrees above the horizon. The small steam plume at lower left is emanating from the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Palo, Iowa.