Re: Strobes
Steven Rogers (srogers@atoutcome.com)
Thu, 30 Sep 1999 18:18:14 -0500
At 05:08 PM 09/30/1999 -0500, you wrote:
> Could the plane have flown all the way across the field of
>the photo in between strobe flashes? The distance between the lines
>is the wingtip to wingtip distance. What is that? Say, 50 meters?
I think you're right with the general idea that it couldn't fly across between
flashes, but I'm not sure that analysis would work. You wouldn't see both
nav lights unless it were pretty nearly belly-on (i.e., flying within maybe 30
degrees of overhead). Looking in the direction of Orion at that latitude,
I think you'd be seeing only one nav light for the E/W passes. The plane
would be far away, and would be tilted a little due to the curvature of the
earth (being level with a distant point) - but I don't think this would be enough
to show both nav lights on E/W and N/S passes.
If that's true, it means that the separation between the lines is not
necessarily the wingspan.
>How fast was the plane going? Say, 500 km/hr -> 138 m/s? So the plane
>could move about 3 times the spacing between the lines per second.
>How often does the strobe blink? Once every 1.5 seconds? So do the
>lines extend in length more than 5 times their spacing? (I couldn't
>see anything on the image posted on the web.) I certainly do recall
>flights where they left the strobe off, for whatever reason.
I haven't seen any idea (nor can I think of one) that integrates all the evidence.
- Why are there mag 3-5 sats that pass through the field, but aren't recorded.
- Why is there no red or green color to the tracks.
- if they're planes (or sats), why do they start and stop on some photos, yet
go all the way across (multiple times) on others?
- why are they so exactly E/W and N/S
Steve