[AZ-Observing] help us solve a puzzle ...
- From: Dan Heim <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: vandenbergnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, AZ Observing <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:55:02 -0700
Dear VAFB,
With the impending launch, discussion amongst local astronomy club
members has returned to a "mystery" none of us have been able to solve.
On September 20 last year, around 9 pm, I captured a time-lapse of one
of your launches from here in New River, AZ. That's pretty much straight
east of VAFB according to Google Earth. You can see that time-lapse here:
http://www.dfacaz.org/astrophotos/Atlas-Heim.html
The puzzle is the obviously northward trajectory since, from what I
understand, you don't do those overland trajectories for safety reasons.
It's been suggested that the northward appearance was an optical
illusion, with the actual trajectory projected on my 2D view, but that
would still seem to require at least a northward component to the motion.
It's been suggested that what I saw was a booster stage being ejected in
the direction opposite of payload motion, but the physics of that
doesn't make sense to me.
My guess was that, since it was an NRO payload, you waived your usual
policy and did indeed launch to the north.
If you could help us finally clear up this mystery, many people would
appreciate it. I've been to your website looking for launch records, but
couldn't find a thing. Thanks.
Dan Heim
President
Desert Foothills Astronomy Club
www.dfacaz.org
--
See message header for info on list archives or unsubscribing, and please
send personal replies to the author, not the list.
Other related posts:
- » [AZ-Observing] help us solve a puzzle ... - Dan Heim
