Science

How to Capture the Sun in a Beer Can

This sun-streaked image comes from the easiest, yet most time-intensive DIY astrophotography project ever: solargraphy. Solargraphs trace the seasons by exposing a sheet of photosensitive paper to sunlight for up to a year. The bright arches in this image mark the sun’s path across the sky in Middelburg, the Netherlands, from the summer solstice to […]

This sun-streaked image comes from the easiest, yet most time-intensive DIY astrophotography project ever: solargraphy.

Solargraphs trace the seasons by exposing a sheet of photosensitive paper to sunlight for up to a year. The bright arches in this image mark the sun's path across the sky in Middelburg, the Netherlands, from the summer solstice to the winter solstice.

Amateur astronomer and photographer Jan Koeman slipped a piece of photographic paper into an empty beer can, poked a hole in the can with a pin, and suspended the makeshift camera in the garden from July to December. The sun's daily tracks, high in the summer and low in the winter, were etched onto the paper. Sometimes the tracks were interrupted by clouds, and some rainy days are missing entirely.

"Solargraphy is very basic photography. And it is a combination of art, science and chemistry," Koeman said in an e-mail to Wired.com. "Everyone can do it, and the camera (empty tin) is for free!"

Images: Jan Koeman

See Also:

Follow us on Twitter @astrolisa and @wiredscience, and on Facebook.