When you find yourself on an overnight flight, you’re not going to skip the opportunity to snap a few pictures of the sun emerging from the horizon. Sadly, the tiny windows of a commercial airliner are usually insufficient to capture such views in all their glory. The cockpit however? Yeah, that’s going to give you a result like the clip here, which takes us through an accelerated journey between Tokyo and San Francisco.
The 1:24 video, which is an amalgamation of over 3400 photos going by its description on YouTube, isn’t just a regular — if very pretty hyperlapse. It was recorded from the pilot’s seat of a 747-400 flying from Narita Airport to SF and provides a view few non-aviators get to witness.
About a third of the way through, everything goes black as the sun dips out of sight, only to emerge eight seconds later. In terms of day-night cycles, it’s a normal occurrence… with one minor difference.
See that small white dot racing ahead of the sunrise? That would be Venus.