In The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader hired the galaxy's best bounty hunters to track down the Millennium Falcon. It turns out that, had the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy been hidden on the planet Earth of the present day, he needn't have bothered. Instead, all he needed to do was head to Google Maps.

When they launched the Sequel Trilogy, Lucasfilm constructed a life-size replica of the Falcon. It was so remarkable that it left Mark Hamill needing a moment alone when he finally stepped onto it. But in between filming, what do you do with a to-scale spaceship?

It turns out the answer is simple: You hide it near Longcross Studios, a film and TV production facility near London. What's more, to make sure no passersby can see it, you carefully place it behind a mountain of shipping containers. It's a sensible strategy, but it turned out Lucasfilm had forgotten one thing: Google Earth.

The Millennium Falcon Has Been Found

Google Earth presents satellite images of a large portion of the Earth's surface. And it turned out Lucasfilm hadn't considered this bird's-eye view.

All you need to do to find the Falcon is look up Longcross Studios and navigate around the map a little. Lo and behold, you spot a very famous spaceship. We can assume the Falcon has been hidden here since Rian Johnson wrapped up production on The Last Jedi, and here she will stay until called back into service for Episode IX. Well, unless Lucasfilm decides they'd better move the Falcon now every Star Wars fan knows where she's parked.

Some fans are speculating that the Falcon is being kept in storage ready for the London premiere of The Last Jedi. Disney and Lucasfilm did produce a full-scale X-Wing at the Hollywood premiere of Rogue One, so there's some precedent. Still, given the photo satellite image actually dates from June, Han's favorite ship has been lying unattended for quite a while.

[Source: StarWars.com]