No Opposition To Saturn Opposition

...well, maybe just a little one: A nearly full moon shone just right of it, stealing a bit of its 0.02 magnitude thunder, the brightest Saturn will be all year. Time and date was 3:07 am CDT, Wednesday, June 27, 2018. This day was Saturn in opposition--when the Earth is directly between it and the sun--officially occurring at 8:00 am CDT. This moon, just hours shy of being full, is known as a "strawberry moon." Native American Algonquin tribes gave it this name as it coincided with their harvesting of strawberries. Not to be outdone in the image is the -2.04 magnitude planet Mars (left), moving toward its own opposition next month. Image is a 15 second exposure at f/4.5, ISO 125 and 18mm focal length, and looks southwest from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Air temperature was 64 degrees F.