Millennium Falcon - cannons above cockpit?

Question

This has been nagging at me for quite some time:

Where are the cannons that are seen firing above the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon?

Their use can be distinctly seen approximately 40 seconds after dropping out of hyperspace near what was Alderaan. A lone patrolling TIE fighter overtakes them and Han throws a quick switch in the ceiling, firing as the fighter zooms past.

I just rewatched the scene mentioned above, just to confirm I'm not imagining things. Then I went and looked at various shots of the Millennium Falcon, models and in the movies.

Just to be safe, I allowed that it might actually have been the TIE that took a quick pot-shot, but to me it's definitely Han shooting first (har har!)

There's nothing I can identify as looking like cannons above the cockpit.

Answer 1

The film's official novelisation indicates that the flash you see was a strike (by the TIE fighter) on the Falcon's deflector shields:

“A survivor, maybe—someone who might know what happened,” Luke ventured hopefully.
Ben Kenobi’s next words shattered more than that hope. “That’s an Imperial fighter.”
Chewbacca suddenly gave an angry bark. A huge flower of destruction blossomed outside the port, battering the freighter violently. A tiny, double-winged ball raced past the cockpit port.

and from the junior novel

As if in response to Ben’s words, a huge explosion burst outside the cockpit window, then an Imperial TIE fighter streaked past the Falcon. The Twin Ion Engine ship was immediately recognizable by its two hexagonal solar array wings on either side of a small, spherical command pod.

You can actually see the explosion from the rear view in the Manga adaptation (BAM! BOOM!)

And from the top-down view in the 2015 comic adaptation A New Hope: The Special Edition (WHANG!)

Answer 2

There are a few reasons to believe it was actually the TIE fighter shooting at the Millennium Falcon, and not the Falcon firing those shots.

1. The Millennium Falcon has multiple weapons at its disposal, None of which are above the cockpit.

   • upper quad-laser cannon - these are on the top of the ship, to the left of the cockpit
   • lower quad-laser cannon - these are on the belly of the ship, to the left of the cockpit
   • concussion missiles - these are at the front, to the left of the cockpit
     
     
     
     

   Since none of the weapons are directly above the cockpit, it doesn't make sense for those shots to be coming from the Falcon.
   
   

2. The TIE Fighter wasn't visible from the cockpit until after the flashing light from the shot/explosion, so it wasn't the Falcon firing. The Falcon wouldn't have fired yet since there was nothing to shoot at in front of it.
   
   Kenobi had asked Han to avoid Imperial entanglements, and in fact agreed to pay extra to ensure it. It is therefore unlikely that Han would immediately fire at a TIE fighter the second he saw one.
   
   It makes much more sense for the TIE Fighter, on the other hand, to shoot at the Falcon since

   • the Empire is evil and likes to shoot at people, and
   • it was possibly doing so to get the Falcon to chase after it in order to bring the Falcon within range of the Death Star's tractor beam.

All this leads us to believe that it was actually the TIE fighter shooting at the Millennium Falcon, and not the Falcon firing those shots.