Wesley's Tool-Box

Proving that the prediction data from CalSky is pretty accurate, I was able to capture the International Space Station (ISS) making a pass in front of the Sun using my Canon SX50 HS with my hand-made sun filter yesterday afternoon. My dad was watching the phenomenon with binoculars next to me, but the transit only took a little more than a second, so neither of us were sure of observing it until the proof was found in the captures. A total of three photos contained the silhouette of ISS in the backdrop of the Sun.



Clicking the above shows the Sun (30 frames from the observation stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8 ) and ISS captures composed into one in its original resolution.

Clicking the bottom shows the original frames of the capture.
Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm - ISO 250 - 1/1600s
Time: 2013-08-16 16:50:38 KST
Location: Near Bomunho Lake, Gyeongju, Korea

I've gotten around to fitting Baader AstroSolar safety film onto my Canon SX50 HS. The first round of tests, taking photos of Sun with my daughter, worked pretty well. I forgot to zoom all the way in, but the sunspots are readily visible.

Settings: 864mm (36x) - ISO 80 - 1/100s - 9 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

While the overhead cloud hampered the observation of the solar eclipse at its peak (around 10:48 AM) and beyond, I was able to manage a few shots at the Sun as the eclipse progressed. Here's a ten-photo crop of the photos I took. There has been no retouching or resizing. Enjoy!

Too bad Korea didn't fall into the total solar eclipse zone (that prestige went to southern China and India), but this eclipse is the best one I've seen with my own (shielded) naked eyes yet. Good thing the office had spare floppy disks lying around. It's a very good filter.