Moonlight To Fly By

Two formations of Canada Geese fly just above the tree line and below the moon in this perspective view of the SSE sky as seen from the Bowman Meadows housing development south of Boyson Road in Marion, Iowa. Photo was captured around 8:10 PM, Monday, August 27, 2012.

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Triangle Twilight

The planets Mars (upper left), Saturn (upper right) and the star Spica form a prominent triangle as they set in the WSW sky as seen from the grounds at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church near Marion, Iowa around 8:55 PM, Friday, August 24, 2012. This image is an 8-second exposure at f/8, 2000 ISO and 26mm focal length. Spica is the brightest star in the constellation Virgo.

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August Triad

At center above this cornfield located just south of Echo Hill Presbyterian Church and east of C Avenue near Marion, Iowa is the triangular formation of the planet Mars (upper left), planet Saturn (upper right) and star Spica (below planets). This image was captured just after 9:00 PM, Friday, August 24, 2012. It is a 15-second exposure at f/6.3, 400 ISO and 26mm focal length. Mars shone at magnitude 1.17, Saturn at 0.79, and Spica at 0.96. Spica is the dominant star in the constellation Virgo.

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Iridescence In The Morning

Slightly resembling Noctilucent clouds, these altocumulus and altostratus clouds give off an iridescence when illuminated by the rising sun. This image looks northeast from the Casey's General Store at 588 Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 7:08 AM, Thursday, August 23, 2012. True Noctilucent clouds are seen in deep twilight and at higher latitudes.

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Moon 'n' Balloon

A Linn Area Credit Union 

hot air balloon drifts from

left-to-right past a waxing

crescent moon in this view

of the southwest sky as

seen from Bowman Woods

Park in Cedar Rapids,

Iowa around 7:15 PM,

Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

Because of ideal weather,

the sky above the city has

been frequented by many of

these types of balloons the
past few evenings.

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Small Cell In NW Sky

This small but photogenic storm cell was seen in the northwest sky from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 3:30 PM, Sunday, August 19, 2012. The bottom image shows a radar capture of the same scene. Upper levels of the cell reached between 35,000-40,000 feet. As can be seen by the radar signature, the afternoon contained numerous isolated cells such as this one. The clouds brought only brief sprinkles to this area.

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Bank Of Clouds Checking In

A bank of ominous looking clouds were approaching the camera in this north view from North Center Point Road at the intersection of Boyson Road (horizontally across image) in Hiawatha, Iowa around 7:10 AM, Thursday, August 16, 2012. The line of clouds was actually on the back side of a thundershower that had earlier moved through the area.

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Billowing Background

A large cumulus cloud billows in the east sky as a backdrop to my weather station atop our roof
on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This image was captured around 6:40 PM, Tuesday,
August 14, 2012.

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Bringing Up The Rear

This impressive looking incoming line of clouds, resembling a shelf or roll cloud, was actually on the back side of a storm system that rolled into the area before 4:00 AM on Thursday, August 16, 2012. These images were taken from Fay Clark Park in Hiawatha, Iowa around 7:15 AM. The top image looks southwest, the middle west and the bottom northwest. The park's pavilion is seen in the bottom image at left. This line of clouds produced some gusty winds as it passed over and created virtually no radar signature. True shelf or roll clouds are positioned along the leading edge of a gust front thunderstorm.

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Roiling, Boiling & Churning Clouds

A quickly passing gust front produced this turbulent looking effect as it passed over our house just before 7:00 PM on Wednesday, August 8, 2012. The leading edge of the front (a shelf cloud) is visible at lower left. This image looks east from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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Perseid Trails

A lone meteor streak (upper left) cuts across star trails near Polaris, the North Star, in this stacked image of 112 30-second exposures. Total exposure time was one hour and three minutes. Each exposure was shot at f/3.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. The image looks northeast from Echo Hill Presbyterian Church near Marion, Iowa from 12:35-1:38 AM, Saturday, August 11, 2012. The photo session was one day prior to peak Perseids meteor shower frequency. An aircraft path is also seen across the center of the image.

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Prudent Pre-Perseids Peak Photo

Forecasts for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area for the peak Perseids meteor shower the night/early morning of August 11/12 were not favorable--cloudiness and the potential for rain. For that reason the clear night/ early morning of the previous day afforded the best potential for viewing and photographing the spectacle. As it turned out this was exactly the case. This meteor streak occurred around 2:20 AM, Saturday, August 11, 2012, moving from left to right in the northeast sky as seen from over the back roof of our house on Brentwood Drive NE. The Perseids are an effect of tiny rocks and dust from the Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, which the Earth moves through each year at this time. A crescent moon was just minutes away from peeking over the roof line, near the location of the Pleiades star cluster at center bottom. This image is a 20-second exposure at f/3.8, 500 ISO and 20mm focal length.

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Gusting In

The southern sky at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa grew steadily blacker beginning around 6:30 PM, Wednesday, August 8, 2012 as a shelf cloud approached at the head of a gust front. Although looking very impressive, winds never got above 30 mph and rainfall only amounted to about 0.08 inch. The top image looks south at the shelf cloud from the park around 6:45 PM. The middle image looks east over our roof as the shelf cloud was passing overhead around 6:53 PM. The 6:49 PM NWS Quad Cities radar image at bottom shows the bow echo front and its relation to Cedar Rapids.

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Reflections of the Evening

The sun was gone, but its influence was not in these two images shot from near Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Wednesday evening, August 8, 2012. These objects were on the backside of a weak gust front that had earlier moved through the area. The top image shows bright reflected mammatus clouds in the west sky around 8:20 PM--actually five minutes after the sun had set. The bottom image shows a fading rainbow in the east sky at 8:15 PM--right at sunset.

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Altocumulus Morning

An array of altocumulus
clouds fill the viewable
sky and are framed by
trees in this shot looking
northeast from Brentwood
Drive NE in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa just after 7:00 AM,
Tuesday, August 7, 2012.

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ISS Path

The International Space Station (ISS) passes north of the camera's position at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa from 4:28-4:30 AM, Saturday, August 4, 2012. The ISS moved from left-to-right in this image. The image is a stacked combination of four exposures shot at 20 seconds apiece at f/3.5, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. A 3/4 waning gibbous moon located in the opposite part of the sky washed out much of the stars (and all but the brightest meteors increasing in frequency for the Perseids meteor shower next week). The bright objects at right are the planets Venus (lower) and Jupiter (upper).

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Lightning Backlight

Incoming clouds from the west are backlit by flashes of lightning in this view from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 10:37 PM, Wednesday, July 25, 2012. A mild thunderstorm was in progress here. Image is a three second exposure at f/10, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Three Sentinels Of Dusk

These three cumulus towers resemble sentinels guarding the eastern horizon as seen from the site of the new Bowman Meadows housing development, under construction in Marion, Iowa. The towers are reflecting the sun which had set at 8:38 PM on this evening (Wednesday, July 18, 2012). The top image was shot at 8:43PM and the bottom at 8:45 PM. The clouds were located about 50 miles away.

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