UPDATE: Thanks to several people on Twitter who pointed out that what is seen in the footage here is the the upper stage of the Falcon 9, the Dragon capsule, and the ejected solar panel covers moving along together in orbit around the Earth. And as Phil Plait pointed out, since this was taken a few minutes after the capsule separated from the rocket upper stage, all the individual things you see here were still near each other in space.
We need to say it: astrophotographer Thierry Legault has done it again! Here’s an absolutely fantastic capture of the SpaceX Dragon capsule just 25 minutes after it launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, as it passed over Europe. Here, Legault captured footage of Dragon crossing the Big Dipper as seen from Paris at 19:50 UTC, April 18, 2014.
“It was an incredible vision: 4 bright dots moving together!” Legault told Universe Today via email.
Check out more of his amazing astrophotography and even some of his tips and tricks at Thierry’s website.
Bravo monsieur Legault! Encore une fois, je suis épaté par vos exploits. J’espère que vous aurez l’opportunité de capturer la station lors de la prochaine EVA 🙂