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Long-exposure of a nighttime shuttle launch (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by [deleted]

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[–]linkraceist 13 points14 points ago

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nice! any chance of getting this upressed to a nice wallpaper resolution?

[–]bright_ephemera 8 points9 points ago*

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I think I have a decent copy of this on my work computer - the picture was taken by a friend of a colleague, so I can get you his name, too. I'll try to dig that up tomorrow.

EDIT: I know for a fact it was a NASA APOD (astronomy photograph of the day), so someone could try to search those archives.

OTHER EDIT: Same size as the submission, but with the photographer's watermark, is here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100213.html I'll link my copy tomorrow if it's any better.

[–]TheLoneHoot 1 point2 points ago

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You must be in the JAX area, because I also know someone who knows a friend of the photographer. This was taken on the Ponte Vedra bridge in St. John's county. My daughter and I had just traveled with some friends the night/morning before to watch what was then thought to be the final night launch (turns out there was one after that), but it ended up being scrubbed due to high winds. Had to watch it at about 5:00 am from my driveway here in JAX instead. :(

In the 21 years I've lived in FL I never made it down to KSC to see a shuttle launch. I did get to see one of the Mars probes go up (not sure which one now), but never a shuttle.

[–]bright_ephemera 0 points1 point ago

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I have family in Ponte Vedra, but I'm based up near Boston. I only got James' shot through a corporate space-interest mailing list.

I checked for flights down to JAX around the last scheduled night launches, but you know how uncertain launches can be. I couldn't afford to go if it was going to be scrubbed or delayed.

[–]TheLoneHoot 1 point2 points ago

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Hell I even LIVE here and can't afford (schedule wise) just the time off from work sometimes if one gets scrubbed. Now that I'm working from home these days I have a teensy bit more freedom with that, but now it'll only be rocket launches. :(

Cest la vie.

[–]Tushon 2 points3 points ago

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I wish NASA would get with the program and provide wallpaper quality shots ... :(

[–]tylerc161 0 points1 point ago

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Seriously! I bet their monitors run at 1080p+. How can they deem this acceptable?

Regardless, nice picture. Thanks to OP and to others for source.

[–]bright_ephemera 0 points1 point ago*

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Bah, the one circulated at work was an even smaller resolution. James's site indicates that the 1000x730 version is the highest res officially available.

[–]scientologist2 3 points4 points ago*

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here you are [1920 x 1461]

Google now has a decent image search option, inspired by TinEye, etc.

[–]green7ea 0 points1 point ago

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Here's a 1920x1080 cutout of that image.

[–]Fayden 1 point2 points ago

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OP just reposted the image, he didn't take the picture. You might want to check TinEye to find other pictures of this. I linked to the search I made, but I don't know how long it takes until TinEye deletes his search cache.

[–]Terostero 1 point2 points ago

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I love TinEye, but I have such a hard time believing stuff like this:

Searched over 2.0059 billion images in 0.053 seconds.

How.. is that even possible?

[–]db2 2 points3 points ago

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By throwing out 95% of the results as being not close enough to look harder. (Pure guess)

[–]machello 0 points1 point ago

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It's also likely that the results were cached, since Fayden and possibly others already did the search.

[–]forgetfuljones 2 points3 points ago

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indexing. You find a useful way to describe general image properties programmatically (primarily black, histogram profile, whatever) and then you first consult the index to see what's even useful to search.

[–]tylerc161 1 point2 points ago

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Oh wow. I had no idea that existed. Thank you for the link!

[–]Artesian 9 points10 points ago

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I see the picture every other week but I can't stop upvoting it. Gorgeous image of a profoundly powerful human construction. What this represents is far more important than what it depicts.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]celoyd 18 points19 points ago

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It’s going into orbit, which is circular. If it went straight up, it would have to turn 90° when it got to orbit altitude, which would use a huge amount of energy (and crush everyone inside). It’s also taking advantage of the earth’s rotation.

[–]exxocet 3 points4 points ago

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try it out for yourself - you will see that a straight up trajectory requires more thrust as well as a 90degree turn to successfully orbit

[–]forgetfuljones 2 points3 points ago

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Basic centrifugal effect. To go further out, you must speed up, to speed up you accelerate along the path you wish to orbit. Merely going straight out would lose you a great deal of speed (along the path you want to orbit.) and would require a great deal more lift.

Larry Niven repeats this over and over in "The Integral Trees". So much so you can search "litany of integral trees" and find discussion on it. It's everyday life for the characters in that story, they have to use it just to visit their neighbours.

[–]MikeVail 0 points1 point ago

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I was going to ask the very same question when I look at the pic.

[–]KrishanuAR -2 points-1 points ago*

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The intention of the shuttles is to reach a stable orbit around the earth. If the rocket was to launch straight it would either reach the peak of its ascent and drop back down, or given sufficient velocity, would continue on forever.

Thus to reach orbit, in the most efficient manner, it follows an arced path so that it can reach that desired altitude, and generate enough speed to maintain orbit.

edited from snarky response

[–]Ev4n121 2 points3 points ago

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Someone hasn't fapped in a while...

[–]IAmtheHullabaloo 1 point2 points ago

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Just go ahead and take this amazing picture out of context and you have the last picture ever taken.

[–]singhularity 1 point2 points ago

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the tron theme is playing in my head

[–]bazurkk 0 points1 point ago

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Brilliant.

[–]MountainRose 0 points1 point ago

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beautiful picture!

[–]mindfolded 0 points1 point ago

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Yep, going to miss those.

[–]KeepitMelloOoW 0 points1 point ago

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changed my background immediately.

[–]dafones 0 points1 point ago

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Beautiful.

[–]riklemon 0 points1 point ago

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Stupid question this maybe, but is the shuttle moving from left to right or right to left? Initially I assumed the latter, but I noticed that the path of light doesn't quite meet with the horizon, which would suggest to me that the shuttle is dipping over the horizon in the far distance.

[–]Cyrius 0 points1 point ago

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Stupid question this maybe, but is the shuttle moving from left to right or right to left? Initially I assumed the latter, but I noticed that the path of light doesn't quite meet with the horizon, which would suggest to me that the shuttle is dipping over the horizon in the far distance.

The photograph was taken from Ponte Vedra, Florida, which is 115 miles (250 km) north of Kennedy Space Center. The view is thus to the south, and the shuttle is moving right to left. There appears to be a large low cloud bank in the distance that is obscuring the part of the shuttle's path that would intersect the horizon.

[–]riklemon 0 points1 point ago

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Thanks, that makes sense to me now. The link you posted shows more of the trajectory of the shuttle to the left.

[–][deleted] -2 points-1 points ago

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I think there's a mountain in the way. I think it's left to right.

[–]Cyrius 1 point2 points ago

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I think there's a mountain in the way.

There are no mountains in Florida. (There are a few hills they call mountains.)

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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what humans can do...

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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Very purdy

[–]Zambon1man 0 points1 point ago

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I'm happy I live in Florida and I was able to see most of the shuttle launches.

I got to see the shuttle fly over our house on top of a 747 after it landed in California and was being brought back to Florida, I was fishing in Titusville once and saw it land. I'm going to miss that. I also saw the shuttle launch when the Challenger blew up.

[–]DrDragun 0 points1 point ago

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Man I gotta see one of these sometime

[–]Teh_Br4iN 0 points1 point ago

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Back about a year ago I think, there was a meteor shower from a pass by of Halley's Comet. Myself and two friends were outside really late one night during the event without knowing about what was going on. All night my one friend kept spotting out shooting stars, then eventually, we spotted the Mother of all shooting stars. I swear, no exaggeration, it was as bright and vivid in the sky as the trail of this shuttle. It was just as far across the sky, and looked nearly identical except for the color. Just looking at this picture gives me chills. That moment was one of the craziest things I have witnessed on this giant floating rock.

[–]downeym01 0 points1 point ago

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How many times did you double check your camera settings? It's not like you can try it again next time!

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