Wintry Christmas Morning Scene

Merry Christmas!

The bleak glow of sunrise is shown beyond a frozen pond on a rural residence on Water Street, about .4-mile northwest of Shueyville, Iowa around 8:10 AM, Tuesday, December 25, 2012. The ground is covered white due to a significant snowstorm the previous Thursday.

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End Of Winter Storm Days

Maybe not as far off as the Mayan "end of days" prediction, but the forecast for a foot or more of snow for Cedar Rapids, Iowa did not materialize following a large winter storm that passed through the area on Thursday, December 20, 2012. Although more than a foot of the white stuff fell in Central Iowa, only about seven inches came down in the scene from the top image here, along Brentwood Drive NE, just about .1-mile south of Boyson Road. The image, shot around 5:55 PM CDT, looks south as clouds overhead begin to break up. Temperature was 25 degrees F, from a daytime high of 31 degrees, and winds were gusting from 20-30 mph. The storm's snow, ice and wind did sag branches and power lines, cutting power in some places. The bottom image shows a corresponding Quad Cities NWS radar capture from that moment, with the bulk of the storm already in Illinois. The top image is a 1.4-second exposure at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Gem Of A Geminids

This image is a composite of ten separate meteor streaks. The event was the peak of the Geminids meteor shower  on the night of Thursday, December 13--Friday, December 14, 2012. The first capture (the brightest and longest streak at right center) occurred at 11:13 PM, December 13 and the last around 12:10 AM on December 14. This meteor shower was the most active I have personally witnessed in several years as I counted about 17 very bright meteors and many more dim ones in an hour's time. The temperature this night for this time of year was ideal--around 30 degrees F. Then image looks east from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Each exposure was 27 seconds at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length. The radiant for the meteors is seen at top--the constellation Gemini. A portion of Orion is at upper right and the -1.47 magnitude star Sirius is at lower right. Unfortunately for me, the best meteor of the night began from just left of the tree and moved left (north), a long-track very bright streak.

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Come To The Land Of Ice And Snow...

It was my first NFL game ever. And (of course) it was the worst traveling day of late 2012. My daughter and I took part in a KHAK Radio promotional deal to attend the Minnesota Vikings/Chicago Bears football game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Sunday, December 9, 2012. This was my Christmas present from her. The cost included bus fare, an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet before the game and two tickets to the contest. Our bus driver steered us skillfully from Iowa into Minnesota, where it soon began to snow heavily. In the top image, daughter Holly poses in falling snow outside the Metrodome at the corner of Chicago Avenue and South 6th Street, 45 minutes before game time. The bottom image, which includes our parked Windstar bus at left, looks southeast from just outside Hubert's Sports Bar & Grill at 6th Street N and North 1st Avenue. A total of 10.5 inches of snow would fall this day in the Minneapolis area. This Christmas present from my daughter was a good one as the Vikings defeated the Bears in the game, 21-14. A safe return home actually made the abundance of snow an enhancement of the experience.

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Bullish On Jupiter

Silhouetted tree branches in the foreground did nothing to diminish the glow of the -2.83 magnitude planet Jupiter (upper left) as it was rising in the eastern sky just before 8:30 PM on Tuesday, December 4, 2012. This image, a five second exposure at f/1.8, 1600 ISO and 35mm focal length, was captured from alongside the Boyson Park nature trail in western Marion, Iowa about a quarter mile south of Boyson Road and near the border of Cedar Rapids. Right of Jupiter is the constellation Taurus (The Bull), dominated by its brightest star Aldebaran (5 o'clock position from Jupiter). The giant planet reached opposition the night before. Opposition is when Jupiter is closest to Earth and when it rises as the sun sets and sets as the sun rises. Jupiter is currently closest to Earth than it will be again until 2021.

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Matched Pairs

There were some close couples in the dark skies of Wednesday, November 28, 2012. If you got up early enough on this day you could see two at the same time. The top image shows the planets Venus (lower) and Saturn around 5:28 AM looking east from Archer Drive in the new Bowman Meadows housing development just off Boyson Road in Marion, Iowa. The lights directly below the planets comes from a power station on Alburnett Road. At distant right along the tree line is the illuminated steeple of First United Methodist Church in downtown Marion. Venus and Saturn were in conjunction, within two degrees of one another. In the west sky at this moment, another cozy pair, the full moon and the planet Jupiter were within one degree of each other. The bottom image, shot from my driveway on Brentwood Drive in Cedar Rapids, shows the two later this day around 8:53 PM as they were rising in the east. Jupiter is above the moon, and the star Aldebaran can bee seen right of it. All bright objects in this image are veiled in a ghostly shroud of cirrus clouds.

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Pea Soup For Thanksgiving?

Thick fog formed during the night of Monday/Tuesday November 19/20, 2012 and never completely dissipated during midday on Tuesday, November 20. As darkness fell the fog re-intensified, dropping visibility to .25-mile or less. These three images were taken from near the corner of Boyson Road and Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Tuesday evening. The top photo looks west at approaching traffic on Boyson Road at 7:08 PM. It is a 1/10-second exposure at f/10, 1600 ISO and 18mm focal length. The middle photo looks south down Brentwood Drive at 7:15 PM. It is a 3.5-second exposure at f/22, 1600 ISO and 18mm focal length. The bottom photo looks east down Boyson Road toward Marion, Iowa at 7:11 PM. The red streaks of light are the taillights of passing cars. The image is a 16-second exposure at f/22, 1600 ISO and 18mm focal length. The red orbs of light are street lamps. Weather conditions at this moment was: 42 degrees F, 100% humidity and a dew point of 41 degrees. Fog was definitely thick as pea soup!

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Cowardly Lion

There were plenty of stars in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning, November 17, 2012, but very few of them were falling. This image of the east sky, taken around 3:15 AM, shows only the quiet nature of prime time Leonids Meteor Shower. One of only two dim meteors I saw this night from about 3:00-5:00 AM missed this frame completely, streaking downward well above the three bright stars of Ursa Major (The Big Dipper) at upper left. Some sources touted this year's display as "being favorable for observers in North America," but this was a decided disappointment. I was left shivering in 30 degree F temps with no more meteors seen than on a normal night. This image looks east along Radio Road (right) in northeast Marion, Iowa, about .3-mile east of Highway 13. It is a 30 second exposure at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length. The constellation Leo (the Lion, from where the Leonids gets its name) is at upper right.

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Conjunction Display

The planet Jupiter (top) and a waning gibbous moon made a close bright pair as they appeared only a few degrees apart in the eastern sky. The moon shone at magnitude -12.53 and Jupiter at magnitude -2.73. This composite image was captured from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 8:55 PM CDT, Thursday, November 1, 2012. The foreground image was shot at 1/5 second at f/5.6, 2000 ISO and 200mm focal length. The moon and Jupiter were shot at 1/2000 second at f/14, 2000 ISO and 200mm focal length.

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Halloween Moon

Trees and clouds give this image of a rising full moon a very spooky Halloween-like appearance. The "Hunter's" moon was taken just before 7:00 PM, Monday, October 29, 2012 from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image is a 1.6-second exposure at f/7.1, 2000 ISO and 55mm focal length.

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Chilly Balloon Ride

This multi-colored hot air balloon was making little headway in near-calm wind conditions around 5:20 PM, Sunday, October 28, 2012 as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The sky was clear, the temps were chilly and the balloon was drifting east-to-west very slowly. This image looks east.

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Before The Big Change

The scenery here was very autumn-like but weather conditions were more like spring. At the time of capture of these two images at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 6:04 PM, Wednesday, October 24, 2012, temperatures were at 78 degrees F, dew points at 66 degrees, humidity at 67% and the wind was out of the SE at 20 mph. But things were about to change. 24 hours later temperatures were at 42 degrees, dew points at 38 degrees, and humidity at 83% due to the passing of a cold front earlier in the day. The cold front also brought about .25-inch of rain to this location. Snow fell in NW Iowa.

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Cold Shower

This image is a composite of a foreground image plus the far right meteor streak (and) three other separate meteor streaks during the peak time of the Orionid Meteor Shower early Sunday morning, October 21, 2012. The main image/right meteor was shot at 2:03 AM. The three other streaks from left-to-right occurred at 2:11 AM, 2:05 AM and 2:20 AM. The main image was a 71-second exposure at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length. At upper right is the nearby constellation Orion, from whence the meteor shower gets its name. At lower right is the -1.47 magnitude star Sirius. At upper left are the two Gemini stars, Castor (top) and Pollux. Castor was shining at magnitude 1.56 and Pollux at 1.15. The location for this east-viewing image was at the T-intersection of White Road and North Marion Road (left-to-right), about four miles north of Marion, Iowa. Despite my being well insulated with several layers of warm clothing, inactivity while watching the shower--which was rather unimpressive overall--began to allow the 37 degree F temps to slowly creep through. I became chilled to the bone, with no real bright fireballs or bright streaks captured.

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Holy Mackerel!

A fine example of an all-altocumulus (mackerel) sky displayed itself just after 7:00 AM on Tuesday, October 16, 2012 as seen in this image from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. These two images look northeast.  These types of clouds form when there is moisture present at middle levels, and when temperatures range from somewhat colder than freezing to a little warmer than freezing. Larger areas of altocumulus usually accompany the more important moving weather systems and the flow of significant moisture over hundreds of miles. Altocumulus range from 6,500 to 16,500 feet above ground.

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Sunrise, Sunset

What kind of confused weather forecasting was this anyway? "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning," AND "Red sky at night, sailor's delight." Both did in fact happen on Wednesday, October 17, 2012. The top image looks east at the sunrise as seen from North 18th Avenue in Hiawatha, Iowa around 7:15 AM. The bottom image, taken around 6:15 PM, shows the sunset as seen from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The locations for the two images was about three miles apart. Some light rain occurred in the hours between the two beautiful spectacles.

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Soggy October Trail

Layers of stratus clouds create this chilly look across an open field located just off the Boyson Park Trail in Marion, Iowa just before 2:00 PM, Sunday, October 14, 2012. A nearly steady rain from the previous day had just ended before this image was captured. After many months of drought conditions, this large system, which produced some brief tornadoes in neighboring states on Saturday, dumped 2.5 inches of rain at our location. This image looks east.

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Nonstop Flight To Venus?

I was setting up my camera and tripod on my front porch early Friday morning with the intent to capture the beauty of -4.06 magnitude Venus (upper left) and a crescent moon resplendent with earthshine, the pair only six degrees apart in the east sky. As I did so, the illuminated contrail of a rising jet aircraft appeared from the horizon, on a "collision course" with Venus. The top image was shot at 6:30 AM and is a 5-second exposure at f/8, 400 ISO and 55mm focal length. The bottom image was shot a minute later and is a 1.3-second exposure at f/8, 400 ISO and 145mm focal length. Both images were shot from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sunrise was at 7:16 AM CDT.

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A Walk In The Park

Clear skies accompanied by crisp temperatures in the 50s made for a idealistic autumn afternoon as seen from a hiking trail at Palisades Kepler State Park, southeast of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and just south of Highway 30 on Sunday, October 7, 2012. The top image was shot at 2:30 PM, the bottom at 2:50 PM. Autumn foliage was at near peak, a little early because of the dry conditions that prevailed during this year.

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Bright October Morning Sky

The morning sun illuminates this bank of cirrocumulus clouds in the northwest sky as seen from about .2-mile southwest of Interstate 380 (right background) in Hiawatha, Iowa. In the foreground are spent sumac trees, at far left is the Sport Zone building and at right background is the 1,000-foot KCRG TV-9 transmitter tower. This image was captured around 7:10 AM, Thursday, October 4, 2012.

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Dusty Sunset

The influence of the drought of 2012 was quite evident here as dust kicked up from vehicles along the gravel-paved  Radio Road just northeast of Marion, Iowa enhanced the sunset on the evening of Saturday, September 29, 2012. In the top image, located about .9-mile east of Highway 13, dust from my vehicle (left) wafts across the road not unlike the rolling of fog. The image was shot around 6:30 PM. In the bottom image, shot around 6:45 PM, another vehicle raises a cloud of dust as it heads for Highway 13. As the sun was setting in the west, a harvest moon was rising in the east. Sunset was at 6:50 PM.

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Harvest Moon Over Marion

A full moon rises over a farmstead along Radio Road, about .7-mile east of Highway 13 just northeast of Marion, Iowa Saturday evening, September 29, 2012. The top image was taken around 6:48 PM, the bottom, a minute later. Both images were shot with a focal length of 116mm. Technical fullness of the moon occurred at 10:19 PM, CDT Saturday. In days before farm combine vehicles with lights, harvest moons allowed farmers to reap their fields by night.

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Moon River

As a tribute to singer Andy Williams and his iconic "Moon River" song, this image shows a "river" of cirrus clouds flowing over a 3/4 moon, creating a halo around it above our house's back roof in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Williams, a native of Wall Lake, Iowa, passed away today at the age of 84. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Williams in 2008. This image, shot around 8:15 PM, Wednesday, September 26, 2012, is a three-second exposure at f/6.3, 2500 ISO, 18mm focal length and looks east. Here's to you, Andy!

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Crepuscular Ray Evening

Crepuscular rays emanate upward from behind the western horizon around 7:30 PM, Saturday, September 22, 2012 as seen from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sunset was at 7:03 PM. Clouds near the horizon can block sunlight from reflecting off air, making columns outward from the sun appear unusually dark. These images are 1/4-second exposures at f/10, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Two Red Bodies

One a star and one a planet. The red giant star Antares is shown at left (brightest of the three grouped stars) and the red planet Mars is at right center. Antares shines at magnitude 1.03 and Mars at magnitude 1.22. A little difference in size and distance though. Antares, some 800 times larger than our sun, lies some 604 light years distant while the small planet Mars is a mere 177.6 million miles from Earth. Antares is part of the constellation Scorpius and Mars at this time lies in the constellation Libra. The tower at left background is operated by Century Communications LLC. This image looks southwest from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and is a 2.5-second exposure at f/6.3, 2500 ISO and 40mm focal length. The last glow of twilight is at lower right.

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Dippin' Into The Trees

The Big Dipper, the familiar asterism of the constellation Ursa Major, stands out starkly in the northwest sky despite competition from a half moon around 8:19 PM, Friday, September 21, 2012. This image, shot from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is a six-second exposure at f/6.3, 3200 ISO and 34mm focal length. The three bright stars of the dipper's "handle" are, from left: Alkaid, Mizar (with dimmer companion Alcor) and Alioth. The top two "pan" stars are, from left: Megrez and Dubhe. The bottom two stars are: Phecda and Merak. All are from 78-121 light years from Earth.

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Billowing To Life

The most active and dynamic storm cell of its group is shown as its updraft (cone shaped structure at upper center) soars to about 55,000 feet on the evening of Tuesday, September 4, 2012. Photo was taken around 5:52 PM from about four miles north of Center Point, Iowa and looks northeast. The updraft, about 65 miles distant, was located near the town of Volney in Allamakee County. A brief tornado was produced from these severe storm cells in Grant County, Wisconsin.

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Long Tall Self Portrait

With a clear night sky facing west as a backdrop, this 3-second exposure at f/3.5, 1000 ISO and 18mm focal length is my shadow lengthened by parking lot lights at Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. The time was just before 10:00 PM, Tuesday, September 4, 2012. I had just finished photographing a distant isolated storm cell in the north sky and was preparing to get back in my car when this opportunity presented itself. Also seen is the shadow of a leg of my camera's tripod at center and the shadow of my vehicle at right. I am holding a shutter remote switch in my left hand to allow for the "both hands up" appearance.

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Billions And Billions Of Stars

There was a lot to see in this view of the northeast sky just before 1:30 AM, Tuesday, September 11, 2012. The ultra-clear sky featured the constellation Perseus (upper left), the star cluster Pleiades (right center), the "head" of Taurus the Bull (partially hidden behind the roof-mounted weather station), the -2.39 magnitude planet Jupiter (left of the station) and the 0.06 magnitude star Capella in the constellation Auriga (left center). This image was taken from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and is a 30-second exposure at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Night Sky At The DAEC

The top image is one of 118 images used to create the "stacked" image below.  The images look northeast over the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) about two miles north of Palo, Iowa, seen from an open area just off Power Plant Road, which leads into the facility. Each image was a 30-second exposure at f/4.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. Total time to create the bottom image (using StarStaX software) was from 10:33-11:39 PM, Sunday, September 9, 2012. The DAEC, which became operational in 1974, is Iowa's only nuclear power plant.

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Mini Chase For A Better Shot

Standing out like a sore thumb as I got off work, this isolated storm cell in the northeast sky was bad weather in an all clear sky. I "chased" it as far as four miles north of Center Point, Iowa to get a better vantage point for my camera. The storm cell was located more than 60 miles away in northeast Iowa, in Allamakee and Clayton counties. Hail over two inches in diameter was reported with these severe storms along with localized wind gusts ranging from 60 to 75 mph. As the high-based storms moved into southwest Wisconsin, at least one tornado formed in northwest Grant County. This view from the County Home Road overpass at Exit 28 of Interstate 380 near Toddville, Iowa was taken around 6:10 PM, Tuesday, September 4, 2012. Note the prominent bright updraft of the storm at center.

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9-11 Anniversary Morning

The -4.17 magnitude planet

Venus and a crescent moon

accentuate the display of

the American flag in the 

morning sky, a nice patriotic 

reminder of the 11th 

anniversary of the terrorist

attacks on the U.S. This

image, looking east around

6:17 AM, Tuesday, September

11, 2012, was captured from

our front porch on Brentwood

Drive NE in Cedar Rapids,

Iowa.

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Got Milky Way?

This very dark sky looking southwest allowed the Milky Way to appear almost like a line of prominent clouds around 10:30 PM, Sunday, September 9, 2012. These two perspectives look the opposite direction of the nearby Duane Arnold Energy Center about .4-mile distant, and about 2 miles northeast of Palo, Iowa. The hillock in the foreground is illuminated by the power plant. The top image is a 15-second exposure at f/3.5, 1000 ISO and 18mm focal length; the bottom image is a 20 second exposure with the same settings. A same view of the sky from nearby Cedar Rapids would render the Milky Way almost invisible due to light pollution.

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Two Conflicting Weather Conditions

If you think this is a shot of a completely clear night sky, look again. An isolated severe storm cell was producing a lightning show even though it was located about 65 miles to north. Photo was taken from just west of the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa; the storm was located near the town of Monona, in northern Clayton County in northeast Iowa. Image is a 13 second exposure at f/3.5, 1000 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Atmospheric Awe

I observed these magnificent high-based cumulonimbus clouds from ideal weather conditions north of Center Point, Iowa on the evening of Tuesday, September 4, 2012. All was clear and quiet here, but not there! Both were severe-warned. The closer cloud was located about 65 miles away in southern Allamakee County in Iowa and was exhibiting a strong central updraft (lightest area at top). The more distant cloud (left) was located in extreme southeastern Minnesota.  The small water tower in the background belongs to the nearby town of Walker. Weather conditions at this hour was 89 degrees F with a dew point of 66 degrees.

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