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Academic research prototype · Non-commercial

Researching aircraft transits across the Sun and Moon.

An academic research prototype that combines aircraft trajectory data, astronomical ephemerides and computational geometry to study apparent aircraft–celestial-object alignments from ground-based observing locations, and to develop and evaluate methods for predicting them.

Explore SkyTransit Research & methodology

Predicted transits are computed from current data and change as it does

Concept previewMOON · AIRCRAFT
✈
Predicted path

Next opportunity

Moon crossing

Commercial aircraft · Example data

IN01:42:18
Distance6.4 km
MethodKinematic
Suggested spot Northwest

THE PRACTICAL WORKFLOW

Predict.
Move.
Capture.

01

Predict

Find upcoming aircraft–Sun/Moon alignments, and when they happen.

02

Move

Identify where on the ground the geometry is favourable.

03

Capture

Use the timing and location to photograph the transit.

WHAT SKYTRANSIT STUDIES

Research questions

  • Can aircraft trajectory data and astronomical ephemerides be combined to identify ground locations from which aircraft–Sun/Moon alignments occur?
  • How robust are predicted transit corridors to trajectory sampling, timing, positional uncertainty and observation geometry?
  • Can historical aircraft trajectories reveal geographic locations where Sun/Moon alignments have occurred repeatedly?
  • How can live and historical ADS-B evidence be combined without counting the same physical event twice?
All research questions

RESEARCH & METHODOLOGY

From observations to evidence

Aircraft trajectory data, astronomical ephemerides and computational geometry combine into methods for ground-based transit prediction and for historical alignment evidence. The methods are under active development and evaluation.

  1. Aircraft trajectory observations

  2. Topocentric Sun / Moon ephemerides

  3. Ground transit corridor

  4. Validation and aggregation

Read the methodology

SKYTRANSIT ATLAS

Historical evidence for alignments

Atlas extends SkyTransit from prediction to historical analysis. It analyses bounded sets of historical aircraft observations to identify past alignment events, repeated geographic evidence, recurrence across dates, and candidate historical locations.

Atlas does not treat historical occurrence as a guarantee or probability of a future transit.

Explore SkyTransit Atlas

DATA & RESEARCH TRANSPARENCY

Bounded queries, derived outputs

SkyTransit combines aircraft trajectory observations with astronomical and geospatial data to produce derived transit geometry and historical evidence. Analyses are bounded geographically and temporally, and third-party raw historical aircraft data are not intended for public bulk redistribution.

Research & data methodology

RESEARCH LEAD

Academic affiliation

SkyTransit is developed by Alejandro Rodríguez-González, Professor / Researcher at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). The affiliation identifies the researcher only; SkyTransit is an independent initiative with no dedicated project funding — not an official UPM service or an institutionally funded project.

ORCID Google Scholar About the project