Blood Moon Tetrad

Shown is a 200mm focal length image of the eclipsed moon at 3:06 AM CDT, Tuesday, April 15, 2014, as it began to move out of its totality phase as seen from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image was a 1.6-second exposure at f/7.1 and 2000 ISO. This eclipse, the first of four total lunar eclipses in the next two years, is part of a rare tetrad--a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses that take place in six month intervals. The next three total lunar eclipses occur on October 8, 2014; April 4, 2015; and September 28, 2015. There were no tetrads between the years 1600 and 1900 and the next tetrad won't occur until 2032. The red hue of the moon during a total eclipse is due to sunlight passing through the Earth's atmosphere.

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Holy Week Lunar Eclipse

The total lunar eclipse that graced the SW skies over Cedar Rapids, Iowa early Tuesday morning, April 15, 2014 was a spectacular one. After heavy rains amounting to over three inches on Palm Sunday moved on, skies cleared Monday evening allowing for good viewing. The clear skies in this case created unseasonably cold temperatures, and it was 26 degrees F with 18 degree wind chills in the photos seen above. The structure in the foreground is Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The top image is a single image of the moon at 3:06 AM, as it was just starting to emerge from totality. Accompanying it was the 0.96 magnitude star Spica and -1.43 magnitude planet Mars.  The middle image is a composite of five images with the upper right starting at 3:15 AM and the bottom right ending at 4:30 AM.

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War of the Worlds In Iowa?

Looking not unlike a Martian fighting machine in H.G. Wells' 1898 novel, War of the Worlds, this
old style water tower, located at the Linn County Care Center at Highway 13 and County Home Road north of Marion, Iowa juts skyward with the planet Mars and the star Spica to the right. Was this fighting machine awaiting instructions from its home planet? In reality, this was Mars opposition night, with the red planet being the brightest in our skies since December, 2007. Mars shone at -1.48 magnitude, while the nearby Spica, the principal star in the constellation Virgo, glowed at 0.96. The top photo was shot at 11:44 PM CDT, Tuesday, April 8, 2014 and is a 21 second exposure at f/7.1, 2000 ISO. The bottom image was shot at 11:50 PM and was a 21 second exposure at f/4.5, and 400 ISO. The illumination of the water tower was caused by lights from nearby buildings in the facility. Air temperature was 36 degrees F.

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Mars And Spica

Mars was in the constellation Virgo on Saturday night, April 5, 2014, and was close to the constellation's principal star Spica. These three images show the two celestial bodies--with Mars above and slightly left of Spica--as they rose in the east sky. The top two images view the duo from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with Brentwood Drive NE in the background from 9:23-9:28 PM. The bottom image looks over the back of our house at 10:40 PM. Mars shone at -1.44 magnitude, Spica at 0.96. The red planet will achieve its brightest magnitude since December, 2007 on April 8, at -1.5. Mars at this time is marginally more brilliant that the sky's brightest star, Sirius.

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Warm Wind A-Blowin'

Conditions sort of felt like that ripe for severe weather--strong, warm wind blowing from the south. And indeed the temperature at this moment was around 68 degrees F. But instability was low as dew points were in the mid-40s. The skies as seen from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 6:00 PM on Monday, March 31, 2014 were streaked with parallel rows of cirrus fibratus clouds. The clouds quickly dissipated in the high winds and soon the skies were clear. Around 7:30 PM, a thin line of thundershowers moved through the area, dropping about 0.04-inches of rain. The top and middle images look northeast, the bottom image looks southwest. Wind speeds reached 30 mph this evening.

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Slow Meltdown

The ultra-inclement winter of 2013-2014 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa produced the deep mounds of snow seen in the top image, shot from our backyard. The location of the last lingering spot of snow and ice is marked in the top image (February 18) by a red X, and in the bottom image (March 21) by a white X. Also included in the bottom image is an inset closeup of the last snow. Despite lamenting that this snow field would not fully melt until May, it took just 32 days to go from Image 1 to Image 2.

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Unexpected Mammatus

I stopped off at a store on my way home from work on Tuesday, March 18, 2014, and as I prepared to get in my car to go home, I noticed mild but very distinguishable mammatus formations in the west sky. Considering the fact that most mammatus form under the anvil of a cumulonimbus cloud, this was a little unusual. Weather conditions at this time more winter like: 48 degrees F temperatures, 64% humidity, 35 degree dew points and winds out of the southeast at 15 mph. The top image was captured at 3:14 PM from Hy-Vee Drugstore at Boyson Road and C Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The middle image was shot about five minutes later from Bowman Woods Park. The bottom image is a radar capture of the moment.

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