There has been a comet called Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the evening sky lately and I had never tried to photograph a comet before. So, on a clear-sky Sunday afternoon I went to the Warbler Vista section of the wildlife refuge for some hiking with the plan to end up at the sunset deck (which coincidentally faces west) at sunset. My understanding was that about half an hour after sunset the comet would be visible until it set about an hour later. This would give a little time between the twilight fading and the comet setting to view the comet and shoot a few photos.

I don’t hike in this section of the refuge very often because frankly it isn’t all that scenic out there. The trails are on a hillside that overlooks some bends in the Colorado river/Lake Travis (whatever you want to call it) and that sounds like it would be very scenic. But the housing developers have mechanically removed most of the beauty from the landscape and it isn’t fun to look at. But hike I did and then I made it back up to the sunset deck just as the sun was setting. There was a good size group of people already there who seemed to have the same idea as me.

We all waited patiently, not knowing exactly where in the sky the comet would be. A high flying airplane fooled us for a second with its contrail; the pilot probably did that on purpose. We eventually saw Venus appear in the darkening western sky and continued to wait. Eventually at about 30 minutes after sunset, people with better eyes were able to pick out the comet just above where the sun had set. I initially had to rely on my camera taking a long exposure and showing me the comet on the screen.

I took these photos with the camera mounted on a tripod, which was standing on the wooden deck. Several people were also standing on the wooden deck so my close-ups all show a little blur from camera movement, but it isn’t too bad.

Eventually it got dark enough for a good view of the comet. I decided a much wider frame would work better and be less prone to camera shake. I was also able to time some traffic on the highway down the hill and get some light trails. The image below shows the view from the sunset deck with the night sky featuring Venus and a comet. The comet gives you a very clear indication of about where the sun had set. If you look carefully and use some imagination, you can see a hint of the Milky Way in the far left of the photo. I did not apply any noise correction to the image because I didn’t want it to ruin the stars.

That chunk of ice will make its way back out to the depths of space beyond Pluto never to be seen by me again. If there is still anyone around 80,000 years from now, they may get to see it. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel insignificant. Thanks for reading.