It’s really late, I’m really short on time, but the short version is that being stubborn paid off tonight. The maps and information from TheSkyLive.com helped a ton.
Shooting blind, bracketing the framing, I finally identified that I was aiming too high on the first two sets of photos, so I went back out for a third. Do you see the fuzzy, faint, green dot? That’s the comet.
Here’s a portion of the map from TheSkyLive.com that matches what you’re seeing.
If I shoot short pictures (5 seconds) I don’t get as much washed out sky from the light pollution. But the comet is really faint and diffuse.
If I shoot longer pictures (13 seconds) I get a ton of light pollution washing everything out – but you can almost sort of start to see some of the tail. Maybe.
Here’s the frame from TheSkyLive.com that matches those two photos.
The other problem, as seen from this final frame from TheSkyLive.com, is that we’re close to the horizon, so even if the sky were clear of haze (it’s not) and/or light pollution (it’s really, REALLY not!) we would still be looking through a lot of air. So, three strikes.
But I FOUND IT ANYWAY!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 