Editing 2463: Astrophotography

{{comic
| number    = 2463
| date      = May 15, 2021
| title     = Astrophotography
| image     = astrophotography.png
| titletext = [One hill over, a competing astrophotographer does a backflip over a commercial airliner while throwing a tray of plastic space stations into the air, through which a falcon swoops to 'grab' the real one.]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BACKFLIPPING ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Astrophotographers like to take photos of things transiting the Sun. Typical things include planes, the International Space Station, and the Moon (solar eclipses).

The practice of "one-upmanship" refers to the practice of achieving something superior to what another has achieved, or "getting one up on" them. The caption claims that the photo shown in the comic is the result of a continuous string of one-upmanship among astrophotographers in a community, each striving to one-up the other.

In this comic there seems to be an abundance of things:
* There is an ongoing {{w|partial solar eclipse}} so the view of the {{w|Sun}} is partially obscured by the {{w|Moon}} in the upper right quadrant. Although the Sun is much larger than the Moon, the Moon is able to block the Sun's light from reaching {{w|Earth}} (which happens during a {{w|partial solar eclipse|Total Solar Eclipse}}) because it so much closer to the Earth that they have the same apparent size when seen from the Earth.
* [[Megan]] is standing slightly below the peak of a hill and seems to be juggling, with five balls, which are also in front of the sun.
* [[Cueball]] is standing at the peak of the hill, firing an arrow from a bow, one arrow has pierced what at first appears to be one of the juggling balls, but may be a {{w|Transit of Venus}}. A simultaneous Eclipse and Transit of Venus is actually expected in the future, but not until April 5, 15232 (13211 years after the publishing of this comic). It would though likely be easier to make the arrow "hit" Venus than one of the joggled balls, as the planets position is constant at the time the photo is taken. The other four balls are too large that any of them could represent Mercury, the only other planet that can transit the Sun, when seen from Earth. But Megan has been careful to make one ball go so much higher than the middle two, that it seems to fit that Venus has been shot out from between them.
* Two airplanes flying above them are pulling signs with the words "nice" and "shot" (which could refer to either the archer or the photograph). The signs will have to be made with see through holes through the canvas letting sun through. As there is an O it cannot just be holes in the canvas! 
* The The {{w|International Space Station}} (ISS) can be seen transiting in the upper center.

Taking the picture required precisely scheduling and arranging the relative positions of several of the various subjects (and photographer), to coincide with the predictable but rare conjunctions of the rest of the scene, as well as special equipment:
* A solar filter must be used to photograph the sun without overexposing the image or even damaging equipment.
* The photograph must be taken during a partial solar eclipse. These only happen a few times per year and are only visible in part of the world.
* Related to the last point, a nearby person appears larger than the moon. It is possible to photograph the silhouette of a person or a cityscape in front of a full moon, making the moon look comparatively larger or smaller by adjusting the distance to the closer subject, and then the lenses used by the photographer to make them both fill just the right amount of the frame. The photographer needed to carefully choose their position relative to the subjects to make this happen.
* The exposure time of the photograph had to be short enough to capture clear silhouettes of the ISS, the juggling balls and the arrow while these were in the air.
* The mountain had to be in a location that would happen to see the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time.
* The subjects had to achieve a moment in which four juggling balls were in the air and an arrow had pierced the point where Venus where, while sideways relative to the sun's light, which was still near normal intensity and could have made the task harder. 
* The planes also needed to be flying in the correct directions for the text of the signs to be visible, and very precise timing for them to be in the correct position to read Nice as coming before Shot.
* All this had to be timed very very precise as the flyby of the ISS only takes a second.

The title text describes a similarly outlandish photo.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Cueball and Megan stand on a hill with the sun behind them. Cueball is at the top-left of the hill, holding a bow in his left arm, which has been recently shot, with the arrow to right. Megan is at the bottom-right of the hill, juggling some balls. There are two planes going in opposite directions with banners on them. Above the planes is the ISS. All these items are silhouetted against the sun partially eclipsed by the moon in the upper right.]

:[Banners]: Nice Shot

:[Caption beneath the panel]:
:Our astrophotography community's one-upmanship is getting out of hand.

==Trivia==
Randall has commented on in comics ([[1855:_Telephoto]], [[1719:_Superzoom]]) and the ''How To'' chapter "How to take a selfie".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Space]]