What is this graceful light arc in the sky?

At first glance, one should wonder what could produce this beautiful light arc in the sky, but the explanation is quite simple:

This graceful arc traces a Delta rocket climbing through Thursday's early morning skies over Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA. Snug inside the rocket's Centaur upper stage were NASA's twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), now in separate orbits within planet Earth's Van Allen radiation belts. Reflected in the Turn Basin from a vantage point about 3 miles from Space Launch Complex 41, the scene was captured in a composite of two exposures. One highlights the dramatic play of launch pad lighting, clouds, and sky. A subsequent 3 minute long exposure records the rocket's fiery trail. While most spacecraft try to avoid the radiation belts, named for their discoverer James Van Allen, RBSP's mission will be to explore their dynamic and harsh conditions.

Source: APOD and Mike Killian Gallery

More about the Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission and its launches three days ago.

So it's an over-exposed night shot of a rocket.

lovely picture..
Would love that blown up so big i could paper my bedroom wall with it..

Two other things caught my eye whilst looking at this and I'd love an explanation for it..

1st, just before the rocket goes into the arc, you see one big star and one very slightly elongated just above it?
surely all the stars would have the same effect if this was time lapse photo or is it the remains of the 2nd photo taken at time lapse, if so, why are there no other 'smeared' stars..??

2nd.. is that the moon under the arc?
really crazy effect if it is as it does appear to be slightly illuminated by the light of the arc..

reply to post by Extralien


I looked at what you described and opened in photoshop, when you zoom in you can see the other stars elongated about 2 or three pixels

Because you are a mod, I just ask: what are those stars for?

reply to post by Socrato


and probably a hefty dose of photoshop as well!

reply to post by StareDad


Thanks for that.. I can see the one but couldn't see the others.. would have done the same as you but bit short of time today..

Which stars? the ones in the sky?



just kidding, i think i know what you mean.. the blue stars on our posts..
Basically, they're just to highlight a post that other members think is worthy of notice.
A mini "well done"

reply to post by Extralien


Ah thanks for the explanation Now you´ve got one, too, a well done from me

I'm pretty sure that the Covenant should be arriving any second since this photo clearly shows Halo.

In early 2011 the Air Force put out a bid for someone to build tethered satellites to discharge the charged particles (high energy) in the Radiation Belts.

It appears this was the mission to start launching them? Early tests were done with the Shuttle but the tethers broke...think there was more energy there than they intended on.

Some countries protested us ever having such technology. Accessing the crazy power up there and discharging it to the atmosphere can have very dire results.

The Pentagon wanted the technology in case somebody nukes space and creates artificial radiation belts to neutralize our satellites....so they wanted something to discharge man made radiation belts to save the satellites.

If they discharged too much off it could effect our magnetic field, even wipe out our protection so the solar wind blows our atmosphere away.

The ultimate weapon. Nobody can stop the One World Government now. The planet now has a self destruct button for someone to push.

reply to post by Pervius


The planet has had a self destruct button since the start of the cold war!

Originally posted by Pervius

The Pentagon wanted the technology in case somebody nukes space and creates artificial radiation belts to neutralize our satellites....so they wanted something to discharge man made radiation belts to save the satellites.

Ahh, but that is exactly what they have already done.

Drawbacks There are problems with nuclear weapons carried over to testing and deployment scenarios, however. Because of the very large radius associated with nuclear events, it was nearly impossible to prevent indiscriminate damage to other satellites, including one's own satellites. Starfish Prime produced an artificial radiation belt in space which soon destroyed three satellites (Ariel, TRAAC, and Transit 4B all failed after traversing the radiation belt, while Cosmos V, Injun I and Telstar 1 suffered minor degradation, due to some radiation damage to solar cells, etc.). The radiation dose rate was at least 60 rads/day at four months after Starfish for a well-shielded satellite or manned capsule in a polar circular earth orbit , which caused NASA concern with regard to its manned space exploration programs.

More here.
Starfish Prime

Frankly, I think our pathetic, warmongering Governments should stop putting the entire planet in danger for they're perceived strategic upper hand.

Originally posted by VonDoomen
reply to post by Pervius

 

The planet has had a self destruct button since the start of the cold war!

Well, it would take a lot to hurt the earth. A Nuclear war might kill all of the humans and cause the extinctions of a large chunk of the planet's species, but the planet will live on. 100,000 years later (barely a blink of an eye in the timescale of the Earth) the world will continue to live on as if nothing happened, or as if humans never existed in the first place.

Even without nuclear devastation, the time of Humans on earth will still be barely a blip in the grand scales of the Earth's history. The time of Humans on Earth is miniscule and almost meaningless, considering the history of the Earth.