Sunsets and Conjunctions

5:08 pm CST, Wednesday, January 15, 2025. Air was cold, sky was hot. Brilliant sunset looking southwest as seen from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. iPhone 11 camera.

5:46 pm CST, Saturday, January 18, 2025. The planets Saturn and Venus were in conjunction (top in image). This image looks southwest from the Klopfenstein Amphitheater in Lowe Park, north of Marion, Iowa and is a 0.6 second exposure at f/4, ISO 250 and 24mm focal length. Prolonged exposure in the 16 degree F temperature with sub-zero wind chills may have given my numb fingers a mild frostbite--at one point I could no longer press my Nikon Z6ii camera's buttons!

Close up of the 1.13 magnitude planet Saturn (left) and the -4.64 magnitude planet Venus.