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To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 09/27/2025 1:19:56 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 09/27/2025 1:20:26 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Wow, that’s cool and amazing. At that magnification, the photographer was using a tracker to track the sun as it would leave the field of view in mere seconds.

But how could he know that just that instant the rocket would be in view of the sun? Did the rocket blast off within milliseconds of its scheduled lift off?


7 posted on 09/27/2025 1:33:57 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: MtnClimber

Pretty cool once-in-a-lifetime shot for the photographer!


8 posted on 09/27/2025 1:37:23 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set.)
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To: MtnClimber

Orbital launches are so routine now.

Being an olde farte, I dimly recall when launching anything into orbit was a big deal.


9 posted on 09/27/2025 1:38:20 PM PDT by doorgunner69
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To: MtnClimber

Wonderful!

By the way, the Falcon 9 first stage returned and landed on an ocean platform. It will be refurbished and launched again. Some of the Falcon 9 first stages have been reused 20 and 30 times.

Speaking of reusability, at the very top of the rocket is a two-piece, clamshell-shaped nose cone, called a fairing, that protects a rocket’s payload during its journey through the atmosphere. After the rocket has left the denser parts of the atmosphere, the fairing separates into two halves and SpaceX also retrieves AND reuses the fairings.


10 posted on 09/27/2025 1:46:18 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try )
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To: MtnClimber
I found Pascal on Instagram. Here's how he explains the shot. There's a cool GIF of the rocket transiting the sun, too. I think you need an Instagram account to view the animation. It's worth signing up just to see the sequence of frames.

It's too bad he didn't describe more technical detail about how to point the camera, track the sun, know when the rocket would transit the sun, etc.


pf.photography__
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket transits the Sun, captured from over 50 miles away in Orlando, Florida.

The rocket carried the NASA IMAP, NOAA SWFO-L1, and Carruthera Geocorona Observatory Missions into space. The missions will be exploring the sun and space weather.

There were some clouds in the way, and I wasn't sure if they would clear in time for the transit, but they luckily cleared out about a minute before launch.

Using a solar filter helped to capture the definition of active sunspots on the Sun, with the Falcon 9 flying just to the left of active region 4225.

🚀: SpaceX Falcon 9
🗓️: September 24, 20205, 0731 EST
📷: Nikon D850, NIKKOR 100-500mm, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec, ISO 250, K&F Concept 95mm ND100000(16.6 Stops) ND Lens, 3 Legged Thing Winston 2.0, Think Tank Airport 30L (a rolling camera bag)
📽️: 81 shots. I lost the rocket in the sunlight just before the transit started, so there was a slight delay on the trigger at the beginning of the transit.


I'm amazed that he could get that shot at 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec. .
12 posted on 09/27/2025 1:58:35 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: MtnClimber

“three new space weather missions to space”

Space weather? I thought we had a pretty good idea what the weather is in space.


14 posted on 09/27/2025 2:21:13 PM PDT by EandH Dad (sleeping giants wake up REALLY grumpy)
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To: MtnClimber

Maybe I missed it, but it appears that NASA did not mention that it was a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket... TF?


20 posted on 09/27/2025 9:54:36 PM PDT by DigitalVideoDude (It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit. -Ronald Reagan)
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