Well, it certainly wasn't Superman!
I was imaging 11x7 arc min regions of our Moon (23rd March 2016) to assemble into a mosaic for a full disc image. Whilst watching the AVI’s being recorded, I noticed the fleeting shadows of birds passing through the small field of view on 3 of the 15 image runs that evening, spanning the period 9:46 pm to 10:47 pm AEST (UT+10).
Each run collected 3000 frames using a ZWO ASI174MM CMOS camera (1920x1200 pixels) attached to a Takahashi Mewlon 180 F12 with a Takahashi x1.6 Extender, giving an effective focal length of 3456mm at F19.2.
I have attached images of a final mosaic and two of the mosaic panels showing the (composite) track of the birds as they flew through the field of view.
Three bird strikes in 15 imaging runs, spanning 1 hour, shows how busy the night skies are with our winged friends, of terrestrial origin of course!
It reminded me of the "
The Great Moon Hoax" a series of six articles that were published in The Sun, a New York newspaper, beginning on August 25, 1835, about the supposed discovery of life and even civilization on the Moon.
The articles described fantastic animals on the Moon, including bison, goats, unicorns, bipedal tail-less beavers and bat-like winged humanoids ("Vespertilio-homo") who built temples. These discoveries were supposedly made with "an immense telescope of an entirely new principle."
The discoveries were falsely attributed to Sir John Herschel, one of the best-known astronomers of his time.
Cheers
Dennis
