L.A.’s Mystery ‘Missile’ Is Probably a Jet
From Wired.com: L.A.’s Mystery ‘Missile’ Is Probably a Jet
Quote:
“The aircraft is flying towards the observer; the air over the Pacific is clear, so the contrail is visible all the way to the horizon. This creates the optical illusion of a rocket flying up, rather than the actual situation of an airplane flying horizontally,” Pike tells Danger Room. “The object generating the contrail is moving too slowly to be a rocket; the contrail is not expanding as the ‘rocket’ gains ‘altitude’ — which would be the case as the exhaust plume expanding into less dense high altitude air.”
It doesn't look like an airplane to me in that video. There's a bright light at the top of the contrail. It doesn't look like a jet either. I've seen White Sands rockets from Phoenix that looked just like that, squiggly tail and all.
Pretty anemic spin job there, guys.
