APOD: An Unexpected Rocket Plume over San... (2015 Nov 11)

[geckzilla]

What BMA said. And camera settings are wrong all the time.

[Patrick Reed]

Whereas I believe that the Blue Plume is what is stated, There are questions of scale and vector. The scale of the visible missile clearly shows a misconnect in the photograph, unless the photographer is asking me to believe that the Trident is larger than one of the Struts on a tower of the GG Bridge. As to vector, if I am to believe that the missile is where it is represented would indicate that it has been fired from somewhere between Angel Island and Tiburon, which I cannot but believe is rather unlikely. I am not sure, but I do not think that the waters of Richardson Bay are anywhere deep enough for a Trident Submarine to be at launch depth. There is one more (still unplausible,) explanation, namely a misfire at an inopportune moment at Mare Island. I would bet that though the photograph of the missile is a great catch where and whenever it occurred, it was not in the same frame as the beautiful exposure of the Golden Gate Bride and adjacent headlands....PHOTOSHOP!

[Chris Peterson]

Whereas I believe that the Blue Plume is what is stated, There are questions of scale and vector. The scale of the visible missile clearly shows a misconnect in the photograph, unless the photographer is asking me to believe that the Trident is larger than one of the Struts on a tower of the GG Bridge. As to vector, if I am to believe that the missile is where it is represented would indicate that it has been fired from somewhere between Angel Island and Tiburon, which I cannot but believe is rather unlikely. I am not sure, but I do not think that the waters of Richardson Bay are anywhere deep enough for a Trident Submarine to be at launch depth. There is one more (still unplausible,) explanation, namely a misfire at an inopportune moment at Mare Island. I would bet that though the photograph of the missile is a great catch where and whenever it occurred, it was not in the same frame as the beautiful exposure of the Golden Gate Bride and adjacent headlands....PHOTOSHOP!

The missile itself is not visible in this image. And you're looking at an upper atmospheric phenomenon, and hence something that is several hundred miles away. It is almost straight south of San Francisco, which puts it far out into the Pacific. For scale, we can see Capricornus above and to the left, and part of Sagittarius to the right, showing us that the entire trail is about 30° long. We know there's an east-to-west component of the path, but from this image we can't tell to what extent the missile is moving towards or away from us.

[geckzilla]

PHOTOSHOP!

Ignorance!

[BMAONE23]

Whereas I believe that the Blue Plume is what is stated, There are questions of scale and vector. The scale of the visible missile clearly shows a misconnect in the photograph, unless the photographer is asking me to believe that the Trident is larger than one of the Struts on a tower of the GG Bridge. As to vector, if I am to believe that the missile is where it is represented would indicate that it has been fired from somewhere between Angel Island and Tiburon, which I cannot but believe is rather unlikely. I am not sure, but I do not think that the waters of Richardson Bay are anywhere deep enough for a Trident Submarine to be at launch depth. There is one more (still unplausible,) explanation, namely a misfire at an inopportune moment at Mare Island. I would bet that though the photograph of the missile is a great catch where and whenever it occurred, it was not in the same frame as the beautiful exposure of the Golden Gate Bride and adjacent headlands....PHOTOSHOP!

Try this vimeo. The third stage separation, firing and travel distance is what is creating the illusion of the visible missile

The entire event clearly visible over the golden gate bridge