A Celestial Hit and Miss

The planetary "parade" on Saturday evening, February 28, 2026 was viewable in Eastern Iowa, the following total lunar eclipse on the morning of March 3 was not. Even the February 28 event was not a slam dunk as a large bank of clouds approached my location, but as it turned out a gap in the clouds to the west and dissipation of others allowed viewing of the planets Venus, Saturn and Mercury. Some of the remaining clouds can be seen at right in the image above, looking west at 6:45 pm from Lowe Park in Marion, Iowa. The 1.24 magnitude planet Saturn can be seen at center top, -3.36 magnitude Venus at center just above the horizon, and 1.49 magnitude Mercury right of Venus. Image is a 1/3 second exposure at f/4, ISO 1000, 42mm focal length.

 

Zoomed in capture (63mm) at 6:47 pm. Air temperature was 27 degrees F. Nikon Z6ii camera.

Sad that skies were overcast on March 3, preventing the viewing of a probable beautiful lunar eclipse!