Postcard Project: Week 4

For background on the Postcard Project, please see the introductory post.

The photograph of the Inclined Plane (top) was made during an effort to photograph Comet PanSTARRS Saturday night. The comet has just become visible in the northern hemisphere, and is very close to the sun. On Saturday, it was to be just 5° above the horizon 30 minutes after sunset.

I planned a shot from somewhere I’d never been: Cover Hill, between the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek rivers. There’s a radio tower there, and paths to power line rights-of-way. From that vantage point, the comet would have set directly over the top of the Inclined Plane. The sightlines from that area were moderately good; trees kept me from going much wider than you see above.

Unfortunately, cirrus clouds accumulated in the west as sunset approached, and the comet was never visible. The weather forecast for the next few days is worse, so I may not get to see this one. But I was able to get an interesting shot of the Inclined Plane against the sunset light, from an unusual vantage point (eye-level to the top).

This may be the last week for the Pentax K10D… something new (to me) is coming. More on that later.