Plane sun transit

[stardust steve]

Hi. I finally managed to capture a plane crossing the sun:)
Luck was on my side as i happened to go outside and saw a plane about 90 deg away from the sun. So i quickly setup the scope, pulled the battery off charge, fitted the camera to the scope, pointed to the sun and crossed the fingers. Luckily the focus was already set from a previous moon imaging session as i had literally seconds to spare.
Telescope- C102-HD refractor
Camera- 500D with t-ring
Solar filter
Single frame from an image sequence captured in movie mode

[h0ughy]

great image there. Certainly not a lot of those pics about - might be a nice Malin entry for next year ;)

[Forgey]

Nice capture Steve, well done.

[stardust steve]

Thanks David. I have been reading about the Malin awards just recently. Sounds like an exciting event if even just to submit an entry.

[stardust steve]

Thanks Paula. I had just seen your sun images taken on the same day and they are great :)
We did have some high level cloud but it was good to get the scope out under some sun for a change:thumbsup:

[DavidTrap]

Cracker shot!

DT

[stardust steve]

Thanks David T. I am happy you like it:thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

:) What a ripper of a shot. :)

[stardust steve]

Thanks JJJ. I had to give my nearly 7 yo daughter a high 5 afterwards. She was nearly as excited as me :lol:

[sheeny]

Well done! A unique shot!

Al.

[Astroman]

been trying to do the same with the moon also, but planes always seem to just go above or just below it... Very lucky to get one to pass right in front and looking good. Well done.

[iceman]

Great timing and fantastic capture, Steve.

Sometimes it all works out!

This is now IOTW (http://www.iceinspace.com.au).

[stardust steve]

Thanks Al and Andrew. I know what you mean by just missing out.
It can be a bit frustrating but great fun trying. I have had no luck with the moon yet, i will keep trying. Good luck!

[stardust steve]

Wow my first ever IOTW!

Thanks Mike and everyone for their comments :2thumbs:

[jjjnettie]

:) congratulations on getting IOTW. It's well deserved.

[astroron]

Great Shot Steve:thumbsup:
Cheers:thumbsup:

[niko]

great work Steve. Terrific framing of the plane and jet trails

[Jaybee]

What a Fantastic Shot, Well Done Steve!! It would be really interesting to find out who's plane it was and where it was headed and add that information to the photo.

[von Tom]

Fantastic Steve - excellent quick reflexes and great photo! Looks like a Boeing 767. What time was this taken?

Tom

[stardust steve]

Thanks John. It would be good to get those details. I will try and track it down.

[stardust steve]

Thanks Tom. It was taken around 1.30 pm on the 7/7/12. It was at high altitude ( to the naked eye it was very small to see) and was travelling from SE to NW direction and the sun's altitude was about 28 deg according to skysafari.
I am thinking it could be an international from Melbourne given the high alt?
I will try and track it down.:thumbsup:

[Ric]

That is so cool.

A great shot Steve, well done.

[von Tom]

Steve, if it's a 767 then a few rough measurments and calculations give the distance of about 21km, at an altitude of about 33,000ft.

Cheers,

Tom

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Great image Steve!!

Cheers,

Justin.

[batema]

10 out of 10. Well done. My nine year old thinks it is fantastic as well.

[EricB]

Fantastic!!

[rcheshire]

That's fantastic Steve. What a great shot.

[Rex]

Beautiful shot Steve, well deserved image of the week, congrats

[hotspur]

WOW!-that's great work:thumbsup:-the only way you will get better than that,is by nailing Fiona Horne flying past the sun on her broom stick.

[naskies]

Well done!!

[stardust steve]

wow thanks Tom. Nice stats. I did a bit of looking into what type of aircraft, which company etc and failed to get any info. I called Adelaide Airport and they didn't want to know or help ( maybe if they were into astronomy they might have) and i tried to search Melbourne Airports departures but could not find any previous listings.
It would have been good to know

[MattT]

Good one Steve :thumbsup: go go 4" fracs!
Matt

[stardust steve]

Thanks Ric. :)

Cheers Justin:)

Thanks Batema. My 6yo daughter thought it was cool too:thumbsup:

Thanks Eric:)

Thanks Rowland.

Cheers Rex:)

Thanks Chris. I had to google what she had to do with broomsticks and had a little chuckle when i saw the book :lol: so did the Mrs

Thanks Dave:)

Thanks Matt. I do love my 4". She's a semi oldie but still got some good views to give. I bought it second hand from someone who took good care of it at a good price :) .... i think i just learnt how to multi quote :thumbsup:

[stardust steve]

Fraser and Nancy at Universe Today have posted this image on their website along with a transit of the ISS image.

http://www.universetoday.com/96189/things-on-the-sun-zipper-airplane-and-spots/

Exciting times and it all started at IIS:thumbsup:

[leon]

Gee i have been trying and waiting so long to capture something like that, top capture indeed. well done.

Leon

[stardust steve]

Thanks Leon. I can relate with that. On this day, i was in bed most of it with the flu. I got up and went out side around 10 am, saw a pane go real close to the sun, realizing no time to set up i just got the IIS eclipse glasses but it was gone by the time i went back out. Then at around 12.30pm i was at the sink and saw a very large shadow pass by on the fence and the sound of a plane and said out loud "you have got to be kidding me" that was 2 i missed.
Went back to bed, got up again right around 1.30pm, seen a high level plane with trails, starting to head to the sun vicinity. Determined not to miss another, i set up as fast as i could and resulted in a capture with seconds to spare. I was lucky :)

[leon]

Mate i would kill for a capture like that, Chris, (hotspur) has got his, and it is a beauty, you have got yours, and i am camped very close to the Darwin runway and to date this is all i have, but i am a patient man. ;)

Leon :thumbsup:

[SkyViking]

What a great shot that is, and the vapour trails really add to it. Congratulations :)

[OICURMT]

A big great pregnant pause is heard as naysayers all over the world scream out... Photoshop... Only Chris (hotspur) knows the agony of reality versus the general population shouting "fake"...

A great shot dude... it is well earned, well deserved and something you should treasure. I wish I were as lucky and skilled.

All the best.
OIC!

[stardust steve]

Nice crisp plane images Leon. Soooo close with the first pic of the plane near the moon. Hopefully i can jag one of those soon. Here is the program my mums partner let me know about. It gives previous as well as current flight details. It pretty good. http://www.flightradar24.com/
It may help for some high level internationals to try and get their bearing/heading. I used it to try and track down the info of the plane in my image but i am still not 100% sure it is the one...

[stardust steve]

Thanks Rolf:thumbsup:

[stardust steve]

Thanks OIC:) I am finding all about the haters and doubters. Fraser Cain and Wil Weaton (actor from the Big Bang Theory, Stand By Me and Star Trek) both shared this image on their G+ pages. There, there are 100's of comments and they aren't all good lol although most are. Some claim it's fake, photoshopped, that it's an image combination. Others can't work out how i even managed to image it. Those people certainly make you laugh out loud. So unfortunately there will always be people out there to try an bring you down....

[justicewell]

awesome shot, you must have got shivers when you rushed to set up and managed to plug it in time, what a result.
well jealous buddy!!
congrats
justicewell

[stardust steve]

Thanks David. It sure was a nervous and exciting time. I remember thinking if i don't get the plane, at least i will get some good spots. Turned out i was lucky to get both.
Thanks to my Mum for doing some detective work and research work, we have managed to track down the aircraft that was on the same bearing, same time and same position in relation to where the image was taken.:)

[stevous67]

Frame and focus spot on! Very difficult to achieve. Well done.

Steve

[stardust steve]

Thanks Steve. I have missed another opportunity since then. I was hanging out the washing, heard an aircraft and wouldn't you know it, it passed straight through the sun :mad2: I'm determined to try and capture more :)