Day: January 2, 2025

Thursday (02-January-2025) — New Jersey

Fourteen-Years Ago Today. Bee Approaching a Pink Lupine in Patagonia. Hosteria El Pilar. (02-Jan-2011, Argentina)

Silhouettes of Jets Transiting the Sun.

Today, I captured images of jets transiting the sun while looking at the sunspots (we are at or near the solar maximum). I was viewing the sun with a Vespera Classic and Stellina automated telescope using solar filters. I’m not sure why the solar images from the Vespera Classic telescope have a dark green background. The image from the Stellina telescope has a normal black background. There is a difference in the displayed angle of the sun between the Stellina and Vespera telescopes. Compare the position of the sunspots.

Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Stellina Telescope (400 mm, f/5) with a solar filter
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Stellina Telescope (400 mm, f/5) with a solar filter
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.
Silhouette of a jet transiting the sun with sunspots. Image taken with a Vaonis Vespera Classic Telescope (200 mm, f/4, 1/4000 sec) with a solar filter.

Full 360° Winter Night Sky View over New Jersey

I used a Nikon Z9 camera and 8-15 mm fisheye lens pointed straight up again to get images for a time-lapse 360° video of the night sky. I changed the camera settings so I would get images for the full night (8 mm, ISO 800, f/11, 30 sec) with a 3 second rather than 2 second delay between images. The time-lapse video was created using Photoshop (2K, 10p). A lot more clouds than yesterday. Many jet trails, and maybe a couple meteors. Best viewed expanded to full screen mode.