Stunning solar eclipse photo taken with an iPhone 5s

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.