Charged Mars

The planet Mars shines above the Alburnett Road power station located in Marion, Iowa during the evening of Tuesday, October 6, 2020. Mars on this evening came its closeness to Earth, just 38.6 million miles away. The -2.57 magnitude Mars was close enough to outshine the planet Jupiter. The Red Planet will not be this close again to Earth until the year 2035. The image above, looking east and captured at 8:18 pm CDT, is a 8 second exposure at f/3.8, ISO 250, 21mm focal length. 

Similar shot at 8:20 pm. Above and left of Mars is the 4.81 magnitude star Mu Piscium in the constellation Pisces. Mars reaches opposition (directly between the sun and Earth) on October 13, and will shine its brightest then at magnitude -2.61. 3 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 250, 55mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.