M33 is [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] a big, beautiful spiral galaxy a mere 3 million light-years away, understandably a popular target for enthusiastic astro-imagers. Just as understandably, interfering satellite [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] trails [
http://faulkes-tele…] and airplane streaks that are becoming more common in planet Earth's busy night sky are processed [
http://www.flickr.c…537892/ ] out of their finished images. But Robert Stephan left these streaks in his final picture [
http://www.flickr.c…] of M33, realizing that he had also recorded something relatively rare. His otherwise cosmic skyscape shows the tail of an aircraft passing overhead through his telescope's field of view. A navigational [
http://en.wikipedia…Navigation_light#_no te-1 ] strobe light [
http://en.wikipedia…] on the plane flashed across the tail at exactly the right moment. The brief illumination produced the incongruous, though remarkably sharp image.
Explanation
M33 is [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] a big, beautiful spiral galaxy a mere 3 million light-years away, understandably a popular target for enthusiastic astro-imagers. Just as understandably, interfering satellite [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] trails [
http://faulkes-tele…] and airplane streaks that are becoming more common in planet Earth's busy night sky are processed [
http://www.flickr.c…537892/ ] out of their finished images. But Robert Stephan left these streaks in his final picture [
http://www.flickr.c…] of M33, realizing that he had also recorded something relatively rare. His otherwise cosmic skyscape shows the tail of an aircraft passing overhead through his telescope's field of view. A navigational [
http://en.wikipedia…Navigation_light#_no te-1 ] strobe light [
http://en.wikipedia…] on the plane flashed across the tail at exactly the right moment. The brief illumination produced the incongruous, though remarkably sharp image.
Explanation
