That sounds right. I was guessing that it was something to do with the angles that we were viewing from. I was just trying to compare your picture to what I remember seeing. -----Original Message----- From: Jim Gibson [mailto:xajax99@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 10:50 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] White flare Dave Patrick Wiggins, Steve Nielsen, myself and others, who's names I can't recall at the moment, all witnessed a puff, or flair with the unaided eye from almost directly under the orbiter. If an object were at a lower altitude than the orbiter, it would appear to us as being on the same level as the orbiter. Considering where you were located south of St. George, and if an object were at a lower altitude the observed object may appear to be on the left side of the orbiter as viewed from your location even though the object may have drifted to the right. From the distances we are talking about it would be difficult to say where the object was from one position. I believe what you saw was at a lower altitude thereby making it appear to the left. What do you think? Jim David Dunn <david.dunn@albertsons.com> wrote: Jim, In the picture that you are describing, it looks like the shuttle is still coming towards us. Would this mean that the long streak is going down the right side of the shuttle? The reason I ask is that I saw several of these visually with my binoculars and they all appears to be on the left side when it was coming towards me and on the right side when it was going away. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Jim Gibson [mailto:xajax99@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, February 02, 2003 3:17 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] White flare Patrick Would you mind adding the enlarged photo to your web so otheres can see what we are talking about? I have studied the photo for a while. Keeping in mind that my shutter was open for 8 seconds, that would correspond to the bright pink contrail. The gray contrail before that would have occured before the shutter was opened. I would intrupret the first jiggle in the pink contrail as my hand touching off photo. Then I see the the pink contrail stabalizing of a short time indicated by its straightness. Then I see a new bright pink line appear on the right side of the photo corresponding to the shuttles left side and immediately crossing over to the opposite side. The original contrail remains relatively stable while the new trail is pronounsly serpintine. That to me says that the camera was not jiggling because original contrail remains straight. I would ask for insight form all who wish to express it. I am most intrested in an accurate interpretation of the photo, and Patrick, yours my well be the correct one. What do otheres think. If it's nothing, its nothing. I had thought that the second pink line might be a blast form the course adjustment rocket, but on closer inspection I don't think we could see blue sky between the two contrails if it were and the shuttles course was not altered that I could tell. Jim Patrick Wiggins <paw@trilobyte.net> wrote: As with my answer to your other post, I invite others to correct me if necessary, but I'm pretty sure the multiple tracks and "flares" in your image were caused by the camera being moved while the shuttle was open. Patrick Jim Gibson wrote:
Attached is the enlarged section of the flair-out. I think the first
giggle
is me touching off the camera. The contrail Then stabilizes. Subsequently a flair-out begins on the right side and moves immideatly to the left side of the contrail. I read your post about the timing of the event that may coincide with the heating of the tires. I can not discount the possibility of a jet blast corresponding to a course correction. Of course, I am no expert in these things.t
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