Southern Delta Aquarids Remnant

A bright meteor slices through stars of the constellation Pisces from right-to-left around 4:38 AM, Tuesday, July 31, 2012. The meteor was part of the Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower which peaked the night before and was bright enough to overcome city light pollution (brightness at right) to the south. This image looks SSE from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was shot as a 13-second exposure at f/3.5, 400 ISO and 18mm focal length. This observation session produced about 4-5 meteors per hour.

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Dazzling East Sky

Planets, constellations and star clusters spangle the east sky as seen from the grounds at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church near Marion, Iowa around 4:34 AM, Monday, July 30, 2012. The -4.40 magnitude planet Venus stands out brightest at center with the -2.15 magnitude planet Jupiter above and right of it. The constellation Auriga is seen at upper left, Taurus just right of Jupiter and the star cluster Pleiades above the Jovian planet. Also peeking above the horizon below and right of Venus are the stars Betelgeuse (lower) and Bellatrix in the constellation Orion. Image is a 30-second exposure at f/3.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. Clouds had just recently moved out toward the south (right) allowing this clear-sky shot.

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Boyson Park Trail Star Trails

This camera position looking southeast, located on the Boyson Park Trail near Donnelly Park in Marion, Iowa, captured an individual 30-second exposure (bottom image) and a stacked combination of 104 exposures (top image) in the predawn hours of Saturday, July 28, 2012. The total exposure time for the top image was one hour (from 3:00-4:00 AM) and includes the streak of the communications satellite Iridium 6 (at center, just right of tower). Each exposure (including the single one at bottom) was shot at f/3.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. The circled area above and right of the tower at bottom shows the dim 5.78 magnitude planet Uranus at 3:15 AM.

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Breathtaking Planets

Like two early morning dark sky beacons, the rising planets Venus and Jupiter were so bright they almost took my breath away! This east-sky image was shot around 4:13 AM, Saturday, July 28, 2012, from near Donnelly Park in Marion, Iowa. Venus shone at -4.41 magnitude and Jupiter at -2.14 magnitude. Just right of Jupiter is the "head" of the constellation Taurus the bull. Above and just right of Jupiter is the star cluster Pleiades and at far left is the 0.06 magnitude star Capella in the constellation Auriga. Venus shows a bit of an aura here because of its low position in the Earth's atmosphere which at this moment contained 96% humidity. The image is a three second exposure at f/3.8, 3200 ISO and 20mm focal length.

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Not THAT Much Of A Cool Down!

After a day's high temperature of 104 degrees F on Wednesday, July 25, 2012, these images show gust front storm clouds approaching from the west, promising a welcomed cool down. Although current air temperatures were still around 87 degrees at this time, the continuous strains of Christmas music was heard blaring into the night from the nearby neighborhood Bowman Woods Swim & Racquet Club on Boyson Road at Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa--presumably a "Christmas-In-July" novelty statement because of the sweltering weather. These images look west across Bowman Woods Park toward Bowman Woods Elementary School. The top image, shot at 9:36 PM, shows backlit clouds from lightning. The bottom image, shot at 9:51 PM,  shows a weak and ragged shelf cloud forming on the leading edge of the gust front. The top image is a 7-second exposure at f/5.6, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length; bottom image is an 8-second exposure at f/6.3, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Long Distance Illinois Storm

About 110 miles separated the storm from the observer as seen from the top image around 4:21 PM, Thursday, July 26, 2012. The camera was at Bowman Meadows, the new housing development under construction south of Boyson Road and west of Alburnett Road in Marion, Iowa and the storm was in Lee County, Illinois--east of the town of Sterling. The bottom image is a Quad Cities National Weather Service 4:08 PM radar capture of the severe-warned storm.

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That's A Hot One!

With temperatures hovering around 104 degrees F, the landscape was sweltering under nearly-cloudless skies just north of Echo Hill Presbyterian Church near Marion, Iowa Wednesday afternoon, July 25, 2012. The official high temperature for the day actually fell short of the all-time Cedar Rapids record by two degrees. The top image was shot at 4:30 PM, the bottom at 4:32 PM. An approaching line of thunderstorms from the west later in the evening provided hope for some much needed rain and cooler temperatures for the area.

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