Thanks Tom. I knew about the lighting requirements. With the launch
about 1½ hours before sunrise I was hoping there might be some sunlight
at altitude to illuminate the exhaust trail. Shoulda' done this
calculation earlier, but now see that the sunlight would have been some
300 miles above PHX. Even higher over Vandenberg. Not surprised now that
I saw nothing. -Dan Heim
On 5/7/2018 10:03 AM, Tom Polakis wrote:
Dan Heim wrote:
I got up early expecting something similar to that SpaceX launch fromthere
Vandenberg on Dec 22. The Atlas V first stage burns kerosene and LOX so
shoulda' been a good exhaust plume. The launch azimuth was announced asannounced
151ð so that was nearly the same as SpaceX. My camera was ready with a
wide-angle lens and intervalometer for time lapse mode. But as the
launch window (04:05-06:05) opened I saw nothing.
Dan,
There were reports from people several hundred miles closer in SoCal who saw
the launch. It appeared from that location as no more spectacular than a
jet contrail, so it's no surprise that you saw nothing in Arizona. It's all
about illumination, and back-lighting is best. We are well placed for
morning launches from White Sands or evening launches from Vandenberg.
Tom
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