Predawn Celestial Carolers

Like festive carolers lined up during Advent--the moon, planets and a star put on a show during the predawn hours of Saturday, December 16, 2017 in Marion, Iowa. The image shown above looks ESE from Alburnett Road at Bowstring Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing area at 6:23 am CST. Celestial objects are, from bottom left to upper right: waning crescent moon, -1.74 magnitude planet Jupiter, 1.59 magnitude planet Mars, and 0.96 magnitude star Spica (in constellation Virgo). Trailing this lineup below the horizon but not captured here was the planet Mercury, which became visible around 6:45 am; and Venus around 7:05 am. Official sunrise was at 7:29 am. Image is a 4-second exposure at f/6.3, 800 ISO and 18mm focal length. Air temperature was 30 degrees F. Nikon D7200 DSLR.

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Spring Break

Okay, not really spring break, but it was a break from winter conditions and very much like spring, so...

Unseasonably warm and humid conditions on Monday afternoon, December 4, 2017 in eastern Iowa brought thunderstorms--yes thunderstorms--not snow. A line of northeast-tracking storms brought wind, heavy rain and lighting--including one violent strike near this position on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids. The above image looks north at 4:39 pm CST as the storm begins to move into the area. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

My Davis Instruments Vantage Vue weather station display at 4:36 pm. Southerly winds, 64-degree F temperature, 58-degree dew point, 79% humidity and a 29.41 in. and falling barometer were the order of the afternoon.

Shown above is a WeatherTap radar screen capture of eastern Iowa at 4:44 pm, showing lightning activity and storm track. The white arrow at Cedar Rapids indicates my position.

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Festive Supermoon

A "supermoon" hangs over a festive array of Christmas lights on White Ivy Place NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 6:06 am CST on Sunday, December 3, 2017 as it was setting in the west.
This image is a 0.8-second exposure at f/5.6, 640 ISO and 70mm focal length. Air temperature
was a frosty 27 degrees F. The moon here was composited from the image seen below.

This 300mm zoomed shot of the supermoon was also captured at 6:06 am and is a 1/250-second exposure at f/7.1, 200 ISO. Official full moon for this area occurred at 9:48 am, almost three hours after moonset. The moon was 8% wider and 16% brighter than average. A supermoon is defined as a full moon that coincides with the closest distance that it comes in relation to the Earth, resulting in a larger-than-normal size. This was the closest full moon for all of 2017. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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