When M Spock flies in front of M101 (Benoit SAINTOT)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: M 101 · NGC 5447 · NGC 5449 · NGC 5450 · NGC 5451 · NGC 5453 · NGC 5455 · NGC 5457 · NGC 5461 · NGC 5462 · NGC 5471 · NGC 5473 · NGC 5474 · NGC 5477 · Pinwheel galaxy

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When M Spock flies in front of M101

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When M Spock flies in front of M101

This shot is an unbelievable combination of circumstances.

As my friend was trying to shoot M101 near Senlis, oise, France, on a RC 1200, when sorting the files he fell on this one. The "USS Enterprise" UFO look passing in front of M101 is due to a combination of factors :

-the white lines are the navigation lights. They are normally green and red, but too intense for our sensitivity used in astrophotography, so they appear white. As these are steady lights, they leave these lines.

- M Spock starship is due to the fact that below the fuselage, planes are equipped with a beacon light, flashing once in a couple of seconds. Incredibly luckily, it flashed just when the plane was passing in between the scope and M101. So the plane is sharp.

-engines cowls block light, so the rest of the wings is in the shade, giving that UFO look.

-and finally, only due to luck again, the white lines strike the big star, adding some drama

He shot it with an RC 1200 and a Canon 1200D

I processed it with pixinsight and Topaz denoise.

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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
Astrometry.net job	4543297
PixInsight job	LBSFF7ZJQPO7IXS5WPACU6N00HGFDU2X
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	n/a

RA (center)	14h03m13s.77
RA (top/left)	14h00m03s.71
RA (top/right)	14h00m01s.52
RA (bottom/right)	14h06m17s.82
RA (bottom/left)	14h06m32s.74

Dec (center)	+54°20′55″.5
Dec (top/left)	+55°02′09″.8
Dec (top/right)	+53°40′16″.10
Dec (bottom/right)	+53°39′23″.5
Dec (bottom/left)	+55°01′13″.8

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When M Spock flies in front of M101

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