Long exposure photographs of Groom Lake airspace

www.lazygranch.com...

I've done long exposure photographs of Janets landing at Groom Lake from Tikaboo Peak. (Tikaboo is the spot to view Groom Lake from "free" territory.) Realizing not everyone can make the excursion to Tikaboo, and it is getting really unlikely that the base will fly test aircraft when people are on the peak, I decided to see what could be documented from less adventurous locations.

I did a series of 10 minute exposures from Queen City Summit, a location north east of Groom Lake. However the Power Line Overlook would work, or hills on the west side of Groom Lake.

The idea is to capture trails of the aircraft made by the navigation lights.

The conclusion for this series of images is nothing but boring old Janets were flying.

nice pix!
fascinating stuff

Very nice! They seem to have a very steep climb from the photos. Almost hard to believe they are Janet's. I'm trying to understand the angular drops too. They also seem like they are about to do a header into the ground.

Nice work though indeed!

a reply to: gariac

Could you tell us what camera you used?

Lenses and equipment.

Hey! The 4:58 pic looks like the DOW Jones average!

a reply to: gariac
You should have called it "photographic proof of rainbow serpents" and you'd get twice as many viewers

a reply to: gariac
That is a drastic vertical takeoff just for a plane leaving Groom Lake. Is that typical fighter pilot stuff?

a reply to: spiritualarchitect

Depends I guess.

They probably want to get as high as they can as fast as they can to avoid detection.

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: spiritualarchitect

Depends I guess.

They probably want to get as high as they can as fast as they can to avoid detection.

www.wired.com...

Contrails, or in this case navigation marker trails, when they are in line with the observer, can look like missile launches. This happens often enough around Los Angeles. (The rest of the West Coast is too foggy.)

If you did the experiment from the Power Line Overlook, you would see the climb from the side. I have Groom Landing done from Tikaboo using a 100mm lens.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: gariac

Very cool!



Are you also into scanners? A friend of mine in Vegas area listens also.

a reply to: Salander

I've scanned the base for years. Mostly the Janets, but there is some simplex RF on the ground that you can hear from Tikaboo. It is very hard to hear transmissions from free territory around the range due to hills. All you can monitor are airband frequencies. The base repeaters have been encrypted for years.

originally posted by: gariac
www.lazygranch.com...

I've done long exposure photographs of Janets landing at Groom Lake from Tikaboo Peak. (Tikaboo is the spot to view Groom Lake from "free" territory.) Realizing not everyone can make the excursion to Tikaboo, and it is getting really unlikely that the base will fly test aircraft when people are on the peak, I decided to see what could be documented from less adventurous locations.

I did a series of 10 minute exposures from Queen City Summit, a location north east of Groom Lake. However the Power Line Overlook would work, or hills on the west side of Groom Lake.

The idea is to capture trails of the aircraft made by the navigation lights.

The conclusion for this series of images is nothing but boring old Janets were flying.

Very nice!
I did the same thing last trip, from the valley right after Queen City Summit, where I camped. I will dig up the pictures, I did see some aircraft lights.

a reply to: gariac

I don't see any con trails or exhaust. Can this be explained?

originally posted by: WhyDidIJoin
a reply to: gariac

I don't see any con trails or exhaust. Can this be explained?

You don't always have contrails. It depends on conditions. In actual battle, you really rather not have a contrail. ;-) Remember these planes don't fly very high.

contrailscience.com...

I have a photo of a B2 somewhere with a contrail. Not very stealthly!

a reply to: gariac

www.lazygranch.com...

Looking at the trails again, it became obvious to me that the arrival trails were so bright because they had their landing light on. In the link above, you can see a short section of the trail that is formed just by navigation lights, but then the trail goes bright white when the landing light is turned on.

Very nice.