The universe is always there to surprise me, as I am always bewildered by the many fascinating things we don’t realize until we actually slow down and look for it. This is why astrophotography is really intriguing to me, because of the vast abyss that we take for granted. Long gone are the nights where we stare at the stars and wonder what really is happening out there, instead we look at the stars, both literally and figuratively in our manmade world.

I decided to take a night to check out Comet Pan STARRs one evening last year, really hoping to get more of a landscape shot but was satisfied with what I really captured that night.  I waited as the sun started to set in downtown Los Angeles, really hoping it will be dark enough for me to exhibit this natural wonder.  There is just so much light pollution in the area, it really was a toss up for me.

I only really knew what angle the comet would be coming down, my initial goal was to shoot it next to the setting moon. I had set up the day for the highest probability, but because of the luminance of the moon and my surroundings, there was no comet to be seen.

Soon I began to see the stars of LA, out shining the stars of the universe and completely blanketing the stars above.

And as a last ditch effort, I decided to point in the general direction, and shoot some longer exposure shots in hope of maybe getting some of the comet’s photons to grace my camera sensor.  Boy was I surprised when I actually got the comet, tail and all!