Planetary Parade

 

The evening on Monday, January 13, 2025 was clear and cold (15 degrees F), perfect for viewing the special planetary alignment visible that night. The following images were captured at 5:47 pm CST from the back grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image above looks southwest (the fading sunset light is at lower right), with two of the planets at upper right. 1.12 magnitude Saturn is left of -4.39 magnitude Venus. The constellation Aquarius is at center.

View looking east. All images were 1 second exposures at f/4, ISO 400, 24mm focal length. In this image, the -1.38 magnitude planet Mars is just below and left of the full moon. The -2.66 magnitude planet Jupiter at visible at upper right. Right of Jupiter is the constellation Taurus, and below Taurus just above the tree line is the constellation Orion. 

An eight-image stitch creating a panorama of all celestial players. Left is east, center is south and right is west. I left my warm car running and hustled back to it when I was finished! Nikon Z6ii camera.