[dynoman]

Rush needs to see the picture of the contrail's shadow from the same source that took the video. I think the picture and many other aitplane contrail shadow pictures are on the contrailscience site. A vertical missile contrail will not make a shadow like that. The shadow is produced because the length of the contrail is in line with the surface of the earth the setting sun.

This is basic non-flat earth high school physics!

Contrail Shadows



Here's the original cbsla picture showing the contrail shadow;

[dynoman]

The contrail shadow is shows up because the length of the contrail is in line with the curvature of the earth *and* the setting sun.

Think about it; imagine looking at it from the side. Imagine the contrail following the surface of the earth inline with a setting sun. Then imagine a vertical contrail from the side, the setting sun is not in line with the length of the contrail and will not produce the shadow seen in the photopraph.