Once-In-A-Blue Moon Halloween Treat

Happy Halloween! A second full moon of the month fell on Halloween night on October 31, 2020--a "Blue Moon." In the image above, the moon rises out of clouds and tree branches (and is that a witch flying across its face??)... Image is a blend of the moon and background, and was captured from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 6:48 pm CDT. Air temperature was a mild 59 degrees F. The moon is a 1/200 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 640 and 300mm focal length; the background a 0.5 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 500 and 300mm focal length. 

Blue Moon. 6:53 pm. 1/200 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 640, 300mm focal length. Blue Moons on Halloween are a rarity: the previous Blue Moon on Halloween occurred in 1944 and the next one won't happen again until 2039! 

For good measure, let's throw in the eerie Red Planet Mars on Halloween evening too. This image also looks east from Bowman Woods Park and was captured earlier at 6:36 pm. Mars shone brightly at magnitude -2.14. 1.6 second exposure at f/4, ISO 320, 70mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.