We had nothing but cloudy mornings as this year's Comet PanSTARRS brightened in its sunward dive. Finally, on April 18, one day before the comet's closest approach to the sun, the clouds broke and I headed up to Valley View Farm to see if I could get some pictures of it. I had a hard time finding the sucker, and the sky was already getting bright by the time I started shooting pictures. Eight-second exposures! — that was as long as I could use with the approaching dawn. But I got 43 of these before I gave up, and image stacking was able to work magic, bringing out details that were completely invisible in the individual frames (let alone to the eye). No color to the comet in this picture due to it being a monumental signal-to-noise challenge. Click the picture above to see the full frame.
The next morning was cloudy; the morning after that was clear, but by then the comet's head would have been buried in bright daylight. Glad I got out on the 18th. After the comet rounds the sun it will be visible in evening skies, but only to observers in the Southern hemisphere.
