No Opposing Jupiter

Our solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, rises in the eastern sky (above, center) on Tuesday evening, September 27, 2022. The -2.93 magnitude planet was one day removed from its greatest opposition--the point in its orbit opposite the Sun as seen from Earth. Jupiter is the closest to Earth as it has been since October, 1963. This image was captured at 7:57 pm CDT from Bowstring Drive and Alburnett Road in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa. It is a 6 second exposure at f.2/8, ISO 250 and 16mm focal length. Air temperature at this moment was 48 degrees F. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Why Mount Trashmore? Because It's There!

"Mount Trashmore" is a former Cedar Rapids, Iowa, city landfill which contains 6 million tons of garbage but has now been transformed into a recreational area. Several trails lace the base of the large hill, whose summit and scenic overlook to the city rises to 948 feet above sea level. The following images of the city vistas with cumulus/cirrus painted skies were captured from the one-mile-long "Stumptown Trail" on Saturday afternoon, September 16, 2022 and look west. The trail hike takes about 20 minutes. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Two Evenings of Beautiful Sunsets

Sunsets on the evenings of Thursday, September 8 and Sunday, September 11 in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro area were equally striking--but each in their own special way. The sunset on September 8 was influenced and enhanced by high altitude wildfire smoke drifting from the western United States. The image above looks west from Hampshire Circle in Marion, Iowa at 7:18 pm CDT. The image is a 1/500 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 200 and 55mm focal length.

Zoomed-out image at 7:19 pm. Identical imaging settings. Official sunset on this day was 7:28 pm.

The following images look west from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. In the image above, alto-cirrus clouds are illuminated by the setting sun, including some dotted lower altitude cumulus (lower left) at 7:09 pm on September 11. The cirrus clouds were situated well above a jet airliner, which was flying through at its cruising altitude at this time.

Similar vertical capture at 7:09 pm.

Changing pattern of cirrus clouds at 7:14 pm. Official sunset was at 7:22 pm.

Western sky beginning to "catch fire" at 7:29 pm.

7:33 pm. Camera has moved to a new position in the park. In the background is Bowman Woods Elementary School. Sky is now spectacularly ablaze.

Panoramic version of the image above it at 7:33 pm. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Lines in the Sky

A thunderstorm in the vicinity produced a striking array of sky striations on Saturday, August 27, 2022. The above panoramic image looks north from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 7:24 pm CDT.

7:25 pm. Looking north. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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