Sun behind Pöstlingberg

A few days ago I settled out on a mission. The Pöstlingberg with its iconic church on top is a famous tourist destination and can be seen from all over Linz. Many times I watched the sun set behind the mountain and I often wondered if i could ever get lucky to see the sun set exactly behind the church on top. I told myself that one day I would get this shot by luck, but for too long I waited. So I decided to take fate into my own hands.

It was clear that in order to get the shot I wanted I needed a long focal length. My longest lens is 300 millimeters which wouldnt be enough to get the sun as big in the frame as I imagined. What could be a better option for photographing our nearest star than doing it through a telescope? With 1000 millimeter focal length I was sure to capture the sun as I wanted. But with a huge setup comes a disadvantage: I wouldnt be able to move around after I placed it on the ground so I had to calculate the exact position in order to line up the church on the hill in the foreground with the sun in the back. As I wanted to make the silhouetted church as small as possible I had to be as far away from it as possible. And that makes the room for errors very small.

So I opened Google Maps, searched for a spot to set up my telescope while having a clear view on the church on top of the Pöstlingberg and found a small street nearly 6 kilometers away. Then I calculated the height difference and the angle at which the sun should be in the sky exactly behind the church. I checked the direction, roughly west-northwest, and then searched for a day in August, where all those requirements were met. It was the 25th of August and to my luck the weather forecast predicted a sunny day. Perfect!

One hour before this event I packed my gear in the car and drove to this street. I set up my telescope and prepared everything. I checked the focus on the camera, locked all axis on the telescope and put the sun filter on top, which is necessary to avoid damage to the camera from all the focused sunlight. Then, 10 minutes before my calculated time, the sun started to appear in the frame and slowly setting behind the church. I was so happy that my calculations were right and at the exactly predicted time I pressed the trigger of my camera:

I was so excited that all this preparation was worth it and I got a photo that I was thinking of many times in the years I was living in Linz. This sunset was quite a challenge because my telescope isnt specialised for photographing the sun. I already have plans to make similar shots and alignments with the moon and I cant wait to go on another mission.