Guy Perfectly Captures Jumbo Jet Flying In Middle Of Sun And It's Epic
This rare moment was captured by Andrew McCarthy who captured this splendid image with the help of a telescope which was fitted with a hydrogen-alpha solar filter that particularly highlights the chromosphere (a layer of the sun¡¯s atmosphere).
We¡¯ve seen aircrafts flyby in the sky countless times. And at times, when you manage to capture them, they appear like a tiny speck on our screens -- nowhere close to what we imagined it to look like.
Instagram: Cosmic_Background
However, now a California-based astrophotographer, who was actually trying to capture the sun captured a glimpse of an aircraft pass in front of the fiery-orange sun on this camera, creating a one-of-a-kind that you can¡¯t stop gawking.
This rare moment was captured by Andrew McCarthy who captured this splendid image with the help of a telescope which was fitted with a hydrogen-alpha solar filter that particularly highlights the chromosphere (a layer of the sun¡¯s atmosphere).
I was shooting the sun in hydrogen-alpha light, so as the plane passed you could see the contrails scatter the light from the sun, while the plane was invisible unless covering the disc. This video and the above image are available on my patreon in HD https://t.co/VUjYIQJy0b pic.twitter.com/nMP8I3AOuL
¡ª Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) January 18, 2021
McCarthy was originally trying to capture images of the Sun¡¯s prominences. In case you didn¡¯t know, prominences are the loopy thread-like structures that are often seen in a sun¡¯s edges. The reason a hydrogen-alpha filter is needed to make this work is that it helps in filtering out all the lights from the sun but leaves behind the red light emitted by excited hydrogen atoms. This causes the fiery colours of the chromosphere and prominences.
McCarthy said in a statement while sharing the video and image on Instagram, ¡°When you take pictures as often as I do, the likelihood of happy accidents increases. Like this plane interrupting my shot of our sun yesterday afternoon. Completely unplanned, yet it added something to the image that made it uniquely beautiful.¡±
He added, ¡°notice how the plane is only visible when covering the sun, but the contrails are easily visible regardless. This is due to the contrails scattering the sun¡¯s hydrogen alpha light, which my scope is sensitive to. It creates the illusion of a vanishing plane!.¡±
Instagram: Cosmic_Background
In case you think you¡¯ve heard the name Andrew McCarthy before, you¡¯re not wrong. A few months ago, he also captured one of the sharpest images of the Moon.
What do you think about the image? Tell us in the comments below.
