[Popeye]

i saw this yesterday while driving on the freeway. it was quite spectacular.
the star-like 'thing' dispeared but the cloud it produced stayed in the sky for more than 10 minutes..maybe they are testing out something?

sorry for the picture quality..

[Naeem]

cool.
perhaps they are testing something.
_________________
http://www.annisnaeem.blogspot.com/

[balistic]

Most likely a missle test from Vandenberg AFB. I've seen pictures of them that look exactly like what you've shot.
_________________
brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[kimchi]

Shit, my bad. Taco Bell. A bit of gas. You get the idea.

[Jimmyjimjim]

Hey Popeye-

Did you see this thing around Pasadena? Which direction did it come from?

You in term this Fall?

-Eric

[Dekard]

We had some fireball over FL a few days ago too; wonder if it was this things re-entry..
_________________
.::astrochimp.net::.

[Popeye]

so they are testing the missle.. i just dont why would they make it so noticable ?

hey jim,
i saw it when i was driving to glendale. lots of people noticed it and they stopped their cars on freeway just to check it out.

but i do believe that they got some military actions around the school though, i saw a b-2 flying over the park lot once.

and yea i am in term now, you?

[balistic]

The smoke trail is so visible because it is high enough to be in the sunlight. The break in the trail is the second stage seperating from the boost stage.

It was probably a Minotaur or Minuteman ICBM.

http://www.oasis-nss.org/gallery/rockets2002.html

Vandenburg puts out press releases for launches in advance, if you want to try to catch the next one deliberately.

http://mocc.vandenberg.af.mil/launchsched.asp
_________________
brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[Popeye]

thanks for the link man!

how high do u think it was in the sky to be able to catch the sunlight?
it was around 8pm when i saw it and it was about an hour after the sunset.
it was pretty much in dark.

[balistic]

ICBMs go very high. The first stage carries the rocket up to 75-100 miles, and the second stage can reach as high as 600 miles (that's farther out than the space shuttle goes).

Notice how the bottom end of the smoke trail is red before it becomes invisible? That's scattered "sunset" light. The white part of the trail is getting full-on sunlight.
_________________
brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[Sukhoi]

Brian, you rock

[Bishop_Six]

When did you see this? Thursday or Friday? I saw something similar Thursday night. I figured it was probably a missile launch. But I saw it in Arizona! Actually I have seen missile launches from California before.