Jet Plane above Mercury Setting.
Lucky catch! While unsuccessfully searching for Mercury setting in the afterglow of a volcanic sunset on Friday 14th April, a jet plane was spotted flying close to the horizon above some hills to the north of Christmas Pass. A series of photographs was taken of the plane in motion with vapour trail reflecting setting sunlight. Remarkably six of these were later on examination found to include Mercury as a faint dot descending towards some trees. In the accompanying montage ‘Star Spikes Pro’ filter has been applied to make the planet, which was too faint to be seen with the naked eye, more clearly visible! An almost unbelievable coincidence that a flight which takes place only once or twice a week and is not often visible from Mutare could be photographed above Mercury setting?

Tripod-mounted Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in manual exposure mode.

Compilation of montage of six images taken within a minute. Moderate application of Star Spikes Pro filter to make Mercury clearly visible.