Planets Put on a Show

Four planets lined up nicely for the camera on Saturday morning, June 18, 2022, but one was bashful and didn't show. The panoramic image above shows (from lower left-to-upper right) Venus (magnitude -3.93), Mars (magnitude 0.55), Jupiter (magnitude -2.35) and Saturn (magnitude 0.65, just above the moon). Mercury had not risen yet and was located below and left of Venus, but was washed out in the rising sun"s glare as it did so. This image, captured at 4:27 am CDT,  looks east from Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa. It is a 3 second exposure at f/3.2, ISO 200 and 11mm focal length, and is a stitch of four separate exposures. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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June 8 Cedar Rapids Morning Storm

 A line of strong storms moved through the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro area during the morning hours of Wednesday, June 8, 2022. The leading edge of a strengthening line of storms just west of Cedar Rapids first showed itself in a shelf cloud form (above), as seen from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The panoramic image looks northwest at 9:06 am CDT.

9:10 am. Looking northwest. A trail of scud clouds drifts (right-to-left in image) under the approaching storm just behind the tree line. 

9:10 am. Panorama of the approaching storm looking west. Most intense area of the storm was at left.

9:14 am. Southwest panoramic view as the line of storms begin to arrive overhead, showing a turbulent sky.

9:16 am. Underside of the leading edge of the passing storm, also known as the "whale's mouth." Camera looks north. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radarscope image showing storm forming west of Cedar Rapids at 8:53 am.

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June 6 Storms in Southeast Iowa

Storms were tracking east from south central Iowa early in the afternoon of Monday, June 6, 2022. My cousin from southern California was visiting and we took the opportunity to intercept it as it approached the southeast part of the state. We set up our spotting location on Yucca Avenue, about 1.8 miles east of Ainsworth, Iowa in Washington County (41°17'31.58"N,  91°30'48.75"W). Though never directly severe warned where we were at, clouds were ominous in appearance. Above, the camera looks south at 3:06 pm CDT toward a high precipitation storm cell, with strongest areas of the storm located about 6.5 miles distant, just southwest of Crawfordsville, Iowa. 

Radar image corresponding to the photograph above it, with the target icon our location, black arrow pointing toward the most intense area of the storm, and the two white arrows indicating storm motion.

3:12 pm. Looking south. Image includes my cousin photographing the storm at left.

3:13 pm. Similar image looking south.

3:14 pm. Looking south. Large gap in cloud structure

3:18 pm. Looking south. High precipitation area at left. Storm was moving right-to-left in image.

3:28 pm. Looking southeast at turbulent sky.

3:33 pm.  Looking west at updraft towers.

3:41 pm. Looking southwest at distant severe-warned area of the storm system. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Not What You're Thinking...

This feature embedded in an isolated storm cell at 9:11 am CDT on Saturday, May 28, 2022, sure looked like a tornado, but was in fact only a very pronounced rain shaft. Our vehicle is westbound on US Highway 20 near mile marker 157 in Hamilton County, Iowa. We were on our way to Memorial Day weekend cemetery visits just north of, and in Des Moines. Luckily, we did not have to drive into the rain ahead as we turned south on Interstate 35 a short distance later. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radarscope image corresponding to the time of the photo above it. The blue target icon is our position.

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Ominous Camping Trip View

 

This was our view as we neared our camping destination at Governor Dodge State Park in southwestern Wisconsin on Friday evening, May 13, 2022. The camera looks northeast at 7:10 pm CDT, while on US Highway 151 about 5 miles south of Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Severe-warned thunderstorms were occurring near the city of Madison--about 50 miles distant--and were moving in a NNE track.

 

7:14 pm. Looking northeast on US Highway 151, about 1.4 miles south of Dodgeville. Luckily for us the line of storms continued to track just east of our campground, with just garden variety storms occurring during the night. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radarscope image capture corresponding to the top photograph. Our position is indicated by the target icon, with arrows pointing toward the severe-warned areas.

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Lunar Eclipse Event: Seeing Red

An eclipsed supermoon rises beside the old water tower located at County Home Road (E34) and Highway 13 north of Marion, Iowa at 10:44 pm CDT, Sunday, May 15, 2022. Maximum lunar eclipse was still 27 minutes away. Air temperature was 59 degrees F. 2.5 second exposure at f/3.5, ISO 160, 18mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse

The total lunar eclipse event that occurred over North America from Sunday, May 15 - Monday, May 16, 2022 was also called a Super Flower Blood Moon. Thankfully, skies were clear and temps moderate (upper 50s) in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro area. The penumbral phase of the eclipse began at 8:32 pm, and ended at 1:50 am CDT. The duration of totality was about 90 minutes, with maximum eclipse occurring at 11:11 pm CDT. The above image looks southeast over an old water tower as seen from County Home Road (E34) near the intersection of Highway 13, north of Marion, Iowa, and was captured about 21 minutes before maximum totality. 2.5 second exposure at f/4.5, ISO 160, 34mm focal length.

11:11 pm. At maximum totality. Captured from Alburnett Road in the Bowman Meadows housing development of Marion. The tiny objects above and left, and below and right of the moon are fifth and sixth magnitude stars in the constellation Libra. 1.6 second exposure at f/5.6, ISO 400, 55mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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