Long Lunar Eclipse

2:56 am CST, Friday, November 19, 2021. Looking WSW at partial lunar eclipse from the Bowman Woods Park area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The eclipse's maximum extent would occur at 3:02 am. Air temperature was a frosty 18 degrees F. Above and right of the moon is the Pleiades Star Cluster, and the bright object at the top left is the 0.84 magnitude star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. Image is a 10 second exposure at f/4.2, ISO 320 and 28mm focal length. The composited moon (taken from image below) is a 1/5 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 320, 300mm focal length, and was captured at 3:04 am. This moon is considered a "Beaver Moon," and the partial eclipse from it was the longest in 580 years! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Read more...

Loess Hills Planets & Milky Way

Conditions in the Loess Hills area of southwest Iowa on the evening of Friday, November 5, 2021 were crystal clear skies, windy and a temperature of 50 degrees F. These two images look southwest from a ridge on the grounds of Horse Creek Adventures, less than three miles west of Sidney, Iowa. The property includes camping cabins, and one of them is seen at lower left. Both images are 10 second exposures at f/2.8, ISO 4000 and 11mm focal length, captured with Nikon D7200 DSLR camera. Top image was at 8:32 pm, and bottom a minute later. In the sky at left center is the -2.46 magnitude planet Jupiter, below and right of Jupiter is the 0.63 magnitude planet Saturn, and just at the horizon below the Milky Way was the -4.46 planet Venus. Sue Alliss is seen just right of the cabin with a head lamp. The Loess Hills were formed more than 25,000 years ago, when a large glacier retreated. As the glacier melted, water filled the Missouri River valley. When the water level dropped, large amounts of silt were left behind.

Read more...