To promote the field of astronomy, NASA each day publishes an "Astronomy Picture of the Day" that showcases different aspects of our amazing universe. Each photo includes a brief explanation, which is written in layman's terms by a professional astronomer.
An entry from Monday of this week highlights the recent solar eclipse with a stunning photograph by Doyle Slifer that captures the moon blocking out a portion of the sun. The timing of the shot was impeccable, with a plane, clouds and sunspots captured simultaneously in the frame.
Though NASA's description doesn't mention it, this moment in time was photographed using an iPhone 5s as described by Slifer in a post on Reddit.
This pic was taken by holding my iPhone up to the eyepiece of my telescope. It was a lucky shot (that I managed to catch the airplane). But, I keep thinking that shots like this really only happen because we all have these amazing cameras in our pockets. Plus, I LOVE the camera on my 5s. :)
Thanks to some sleuthing by Slifer, the pilot in the picture discovered the APOD photo and joined in on the conversation in another Reddit thread. He was a student pilot flying with his instructor in a Cessna.
You can check out a high resolution version of the photo on NASA's APOD website and hop over to Reddit's astrophotography and iPhone boards for the follow-up comments.
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