Frosty Year's-End Tidbits

A couple of images to chill you for the end of 2017. Above, what appears to be luminance from a light pole is actually the bleak shine of the sun situated directly behind the poll. A closer look in the contrasty area at lower left reveals snow falling from this wintery sky. The image looks south at 11:30 am, Sunday, December 24, 2017, over the commercial area located near the intersection of C Avenue and Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Air temperature was 22 degrees F.

A week later, on New Year's Eve around 7:30 pm. Captured above is the constellation Orion, glittering in the SE sky despite its close proximity to a nearly-full moon (upper left). Image was captured from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Air temperature was -11 degrees F, with a -34 degree wind chill. Needless to say I did not stay long here! 1.5 second exposure at f/1.8, 400 ISO and 35mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.