Moon 'n' Mercury

A waxing crescent moon and the planet

Mercury (upper right) are in close

proximity to one another in the WSW

sky around 9:10 PM, Saturday, July 2,

2011. The small dark puffs of smoke seen

at lower left are from spent firework

bursts. This image, shot at 1/30 second,

at f/9, 320 ISO, 55mm focal length, looks

over East Robins Road in Marion, Iowa.

The location of the camera was just west

of Christ Community United Methodist

Church, just off Alburnett Road.