Starry Night, Few Meteors

Wednesday, November 29, 2023


With the peak night and clear skies for the annual Leonids Meteor Shower, I was expecting big things. Not so! In the nearly-two hours I was outside for the event, I saw only about 2-3 meteors, all dim and all out of my camera's eye. So instead, I captured areas of the night sky. All of these images were captured from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and are 10 second exposures at f/1/8, ISO 320 and 35mm focal length. The image above was captured at 12:27 am CST on Saturday, November 18, 2023, and looks east. The bright star in the upper right is the 0.37 magnitude Procyon in the constellation Canis Minor.



1:12 am. Looking southeast. Constellation Orion at top right. At middle is the -1.47 magnitude star Sirius in the constellation Canis Major.




1:23 am. Constellation Orion (hidden in a spangle of stars), looking southeast. The star Sirius is at lower left.




1:39 am. Looking southwest. At upper left is the constellation Taurus, right of Taurus is the star cluster Pleiades, and at lower right is the -2.87 magnitude planet Jupiter. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Lakeside Reflections

Thursday, November 16, 2023



Shown above and below are autumn cloud formations reflecting in Lake Atwood near Cary, Illinois on Saturday morning, November 4, 2023. Nikon Z6ii camera.




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Crescent Moon/Venus Conjunction

Saturday, November 11, 2023


A waning crescent moon and the planet Venus were close partners in the early morning sky in Iowa on Thursday, November 9, 2023--about one degree apart--creating a striking spectacle to viewers. The image above, looking east, was captured at 3:15 am CST and is a 4 second exposure at f/4, ISO 320, 62mm focal length. The four second exposure enhanced earthshine on the moon in the image. Venus shone at a sparkling -4.28 apparent magnitude. The Nikon Z6ii camera's location was on North Marion Road, just north of County Home Road (seen at background right), just north of Marion, Iowa. Air temperature was 35 degrees F. Many hours earlier in the Eastern Hemisphere, Venus actually occulted with the moon creating a "mini" eclipse.


Moon/Venus closeup. 3:18 am. 1/2 second exposure at f/4, ISO 500, 70mm focal length.

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