Monday, September 18, 2023

Strange Sky 09-18-23

I don't know how many people live in areas where  missile  launches  can  be seen.  Here in  SCalifornia  we are treated to views of launches from  Vandenberg  Air Force base up the coast near Lompoc, CA.   This one was Thursday, Sep 14th, at about  7:15pm,  just as  the  sun set.   KoKo  and I  were  on  our evening walk so we had a good view.  I have  seen a number of launches over the years,  the  first was sometime in  the late 1970s and, like many first timers I  couldn't figure out what was happening.   It is like a crack in the sky.  This is  the first time I  have seen the missile continuing after it  has left the contrail behind.  

See it at the top left - it was visible for an amazing  amount of  time.

Up and up with a sort of cone shaped "mist" following it. 


Meanwhile the contrail lingers and twists.  I suppose the wind moves it.  
It is so high in the air that the sun has completely disappeared around the planet. 

The longer it lingers the more distortion happens. 

And it finally starts to disperse, leaving wisps in the  night  sky. 

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1 comment:

Mary Ann said...

No missile launches but when I worked in downtown Cleveland we had the Labor Day Air Show which lasted for the long weekend. A highlight was the Blue Angels and /or the other military flight squadron. We worked at an office with a roof deck and when the jets were practicing their flights, most of which were along the lake shore, they would see us on the roof and buzz us. Very exciting! Mary Ann