Mars in Opposition, Moon in Full

The planet Mars officially reached opposition--when it was at its closest approach to Earth (35.8 million miles) and with Earth being directly in the middle of the Sun and the red planet--at 2:50 am CDT, Friday, July 27, 2018. Mars was at its brightest from Earth since 2003. Accompanying the -2.78 magnitude Mars (left) in the image above, was a full moon and 0.16 magnitude planet Saturn (lower right). The camera faces SSW at Hampshire Circle, just north of Prescott Lane and just south of East Robins Road in Marion, Iowa. Air temperature was a cool 55 degrees F. This image is a Starry Landscape Stacker stack of five images, all shot at 1/15 second, f/2.8, ISO 5000 and 16mm focal length.

2:59 am. 0.4-second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 1000, 34mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.