More Mercury, By Jupiter!

The planets Mercury (top speck of light) and Jupiter set in the western sky around 8:10 PM, Friday, March 18, 2011--just under an hour after the sun had set. Since Mercury never strays far from the sun in our skies it is somewhat unusual that it claims a higher point in the sky than a companion planet--in this case Jupiter. Mercury will achieve its greatest eastern elongation (farthest evening visual separation from the sun) on Tuesday, March 22. This view looks over a housing development just west of the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The speck of light just below Jupiter, resembling a planet itself, is actually a water tower beacon from the neighboring city of Hiawatha. The image was captured using a two-second exposure at f/7.1, 640 ISO and a focal length of 75mm.

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Planetary Partnership

The planets Jupiter (left) and Mercury appear close together in the western sky around 8:00 PM, Monday, March 14, 2011 as seen from just outside the grounds of Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa. Jupiter and Mercury would have been viewed even closer--at just two degrees from one another--on the evening of Wednesday, March 16, but cloud cover low on the western horizon precluded it. The city lights laid out below the celestial event in this image belong to the neighboring city of Cedar Rapids. The photo was captured with a shutter speed of 1/4 second at f/4.5, a focal length of 100mm and an ISO rating of 500. Mercury will be at its greatest eastern elongation (evening visual separation from the sun) on March 22, but Jupiter drops into the glare of the sun.

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I'll Follow The Sun

This fast moving jet plane and its accompanying contrail appears to be falling to Earth, but in reality the aircraft was traveling on a level westerly course high above the camera. The contrail is illuminated by the sun which had set about ten minutes earlier. The image was shot around 7:20 PM, Monday, March 14, 2011 in Marion, Iowa and was created with a shutter speed of 1/100 second, 400 ISO, 60mm focal length and an aperture of f/5.

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Dazzling Sunset

A small flock of six Canada geese are captured by my camera as they fly northward just right of a spectacular setting sun around 7:05 PM, Monday, March 14, 2011. This image was shot just west of the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in Marion, Iowa and looks toward the neighboring city of Cedar Rapids. The official sunset time on this day--following the resumption of Daylight Savings Time the previous day--was 7:11 PM.

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Snow In The Spotlight

Large flakes of snow borne on wind gusts of over 20 mph are illuminated by a light post on the playground area of Bowman Woods Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 10:25 PM, Tuesday, March 8, 2011. With temperatures hovering around 33 degrees F, the precipitation this night was often a mixture of rain and snow. Winds were out of the northeast, carrying the snow right to left in this image. This photo was captured with a shutter speed of 1/13 second and an ISO rating of 1600.

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Tree-Framed Orion

The silhouettes of two trees frame the constellation Orion around 8:50 PM, March 2, 2011. This view, from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, looks southwest. The -1.47 magnitude star at left, partially diffused by a drifting contrail, is Sirius in the constellation Canis Major. Sirius is the brightest star in our skies and one of the closest--only 8.6 light years from Earth. At upper right is the constellation Taurus, dominated by its brightest star (top left part of the "V" shape), the 0.84 magnitude Aldebaran. This image was created with a 16-second exposure at f/3.5, an ISO rating of 320 and a focal length of 18mm.

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Linn County Storm Spotter Seminar

The annual Quad Cities National Weather Service severe weather spotter training seminar for Linn County in Iowa was held at the St. Mark's Faith and Life Center in Marion Saturday afternoon, March 5, 2011. Leading the visual/discussion session was Warning Coordination Meteorologist Donna Dubberke (standing at center background). An audience of about 250 people, including fire fighters, law enforcement personnel, amateur radio operators and the general public were in attendance. Those who volunteer as spotters are part of the NWS-sponsored program known as SKYWARN, the eyes and ears of both the warning forecasters and the local public safety networks. This year's training session of just under two hours put emphasis on accurate identification of wall clouds and rotation.

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