Moonscape

The moon, just one day removed from full, rises in the northeast sky around 6:20 PM, Monday, January 9, 2012 as seen from the top of the sledding hill at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sledding was definitely not in the picture as temperatures were in the mid-40s at this hour and snow had not covered the ground in any significant amount at this point during the winter of 2011/2012. The radio transmitter towers in the distance at center are located at 1837 Radio Road, just east of Highway 13 in the neighboring town of Marion and are operated by WMT Radio. The towers are located about 4.5 miles from this position. The light streaks at bottom left was created from traffic along Boyson Road. The foreground portion of this composite image is a six-second exposure at f/7.1, 640 ISO and 44mm focal length. The moon was shot separately at 1/1000-second at f/7.1, 640 ISO and 200mm focal length.

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Cirrus Shoreline

Resembling waves splashing against a shoreline, cirrus fibratus clouds dominate the southern sky around 3:30 PM, Sunday, January 8, 2012. This image looks past Brentwood Drive in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the eastern border of Bowman Woods Park. Fibratus clouds exist at 16,500 feet or higher and form when there is moisture at high levels colder than freezing.

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Haloed-Heavens

The veil of cirrus clouds that created this halo of light around the moon lessened at this hour helping to produce the more defined optical phenomena seen here around 9:47 PM, Saturday, January 7, 2012. The moon was 62 degrees above the horizon at this point. About four hours earlier when it was only 23 degrees above the horizon it sported a similar halo, but within an hour heavier cirrus clouds obscured all but the moon's glow, eliminating the circle of light. The ice crystals that form haloes require temperatures of zero degrees F or lower. The crystal's angle of refraction is slightly greater for blue light than red light, which is why blue is seen on the outside of a halo and red on the inside. All ice was aloft as the ground was clear and dry, unusual for the first week of January in Iowa! This view looks southeast from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids. The image is a five-second exposure at f/7.1, 800 ISO and an 18mm focal length.

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Moon Ring

A haloed moon rises above roofs in the Brentwood Drive NE neighborhood area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 6:05 PM, Saturday, January 7, 2012. Haloes are caused by refracted light passing through ice crystals in cirriform clouds that lie between the observer and the light source. This optical phenomena was short-lived however. Within an hour a heavier veil of clouds obscured all but the bright disk of the moon. The moon was in its waxing gibbous phase, just two days from full. Air temperature was 33 degrees F at this moment. This image was captured as a three-second exposure at f/7.1, 2000 ISO, 18mm focal length.

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Ghostly Night Sky

High level cirrus clouds veil the waxing gibbous moon (left) and the planet Jupiter (at upper right) in this three-second exposure at f/16, 1600 ISO and 18mm focal length. The longer exposure created the "ray effect" around the moon, and blurred lunar features, so it was necessary to create a composite image. Jupiter shines through the cirrus veil at a magnitude of -2.53. The barely visible star below the moon is 0.84 magnitude Aldebaran, in the constellation Taurus. This image, looking southeast from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was shot around 5:45 PM, Thursday, January 5, 2012.

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Venus Halo

Despite being veiled by high level cirrus clouds, the planet Venus shines at an apparent magnitude of -4.00, creating a small halo as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 5:45 PM, Thursday, January 5, 2012. Also seen left and above the planet are stars in the constellation Capricornus. Venus reaches a maximum magnitude of -4.6 as seen from Earth. This image looks southwest and was created with a 4 second exposure at f/6.3, 1600 ISO and a 40mm focal length. The temperature at this moment was a very balmy 53 degrees F--much more spring-like than the "dead" of winter! Indeed, much of Eastern Iowa saw record high temperatures on this day with Cedar Rapids topping out at 59 degrees, breaking the old mark of 54 degrees set in 1956. It was dry "heat" though, with very low humidity due to the prolonged lack of snow cover.

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Peace On Earth, Good View Toward Heaven

Two days after Christmas observers witnessed a waxing crescent moon paired with the planet Venus in the southwest sky. These celestial bodies are the second and third brightest objects in our skies. On this evening the moon shone at -10.49 magnitude while brilliant Venus glowed at -3.98 magnitude. The objects are shown over Hampshire Drive in Marion, Iowa, as seen from the grounds just west of Christ Community United Methodist Church around 5:13 PM, Tuesday, December 27, 2011. This image was a 1/4-second exposure at f/14, 800 ISO and 26mm focal length.

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