Winter Sky Canopy

Star trails show through a canopy of tree branches in this view of the southeast sky as seen from Boyson Park at the Cedar Rapids/Marion, Iowa border. The image is a stacked set of three two-minute exposures at f/5.6, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. Time during the session was from 8:22-8:28 PM, Friday, January 13, 2012. The bright streak at center is the star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion. The lighter areas at bottom and at right is scattered cloud cover. Air temperature at this moment was 8 degrees F, influenced by a snow cover of over five inches.