"Top Gun" Movie prop, 1986
OK, this one is pretty crazy: In early May, 2022, my (David's) longtime and close friend (and fellow Wash U Physics major), Walt Schalick, sent me an email that he had noticed Michael's textbook Astronomy: From Stonehenge to Quasars as a prop in the Hollywood blockbuster movie "Top Gun"!
About 34:20 into the movie, there is a scene with "Maverick" (Tom Cruise) and flight instructor "Charlie" (Kelly McGillis) in which she is chiding him for being "a little bit too aggressive" in his flying. As she walks into the room, "Stonehenge to Quasars" is sitting on the desk where he is studying. The book is on-screen for three seconds or less.
Movie still from High Definition (HD) movie shot on Retina Mac laptop screen.
Photo of movie still taken from large flat-panel TV. Not sure why scene is lighter. Photo credit: Walt Schalick.
Photo (2022) showing textbook spine from roughly the same angle.
Here's the full 90 second scene clip. (FullHD 1916x800 (2.39:1 movie aspect ratio), not 1920x1080 (16:9))
Of course, the big question is why? The textbook was published in mid-1985, and the movie was released in May 1986. So it's a pretty narrow window of time for the book to be noticed and included in the movie.
It is also of note that the character of Charlie is introduced as a PhD in astrophysics, so that could be a connection, too.
(Interestingly, the book is missing at the end of the scene, suggesting (unsurprisingly) that the scene was done in multiple takes, and the book removed along the way.)