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Why the U.S. once set off a nuclear bomb in space
National Geographic ^ | 15 July | BRIAN GUTIERREZ

Posted on 07/16/2021 9:10:59 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

Spectators were also holding “watch-the-bomb parties” in Hawaii, as the countdown was broadcast over shortwave radio. Photographers aimed their lenses toward the horizon and debated the best camera settings for capturing a thermonuclear explosion in outer space. It turned out that the blast—a 1.4 megaton bomb, 500 times as powerful as the one that fell on Hiroshima—was not subtle.

“When that nuclear weapon went off, the whole sky lit up in every direction. It looked like noon,”

“It looked as though the heavens had belched forth a new sun that flared briefly, but long enough to set the sky on fire,” according to one account in the Hilo Tribune-Herald. An accompanying electromagnetic pulse washed out radio stations, set off an emergency siren, and caused streetlights to black out in Hawaii.

I told my dad years later, ‘You know, if I knew I was going to become a nuclear weapon physicist, I would have paid more attention,’” he says.

There is no mushroom cloud or double flash. People on the ground don’t feel a shock wave or hear any sound. There’s just a bright ball of plasma

This unexpected “Starfish belt,” which lingered for at least 10 years, destroyed Telstar 1, the first satellite to broadcast a live television signal, and Ariel-1, Britain’s first satellite.

The largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded, called the Carrington Event, hit Earth in 1859. It caused auroras over Australia and gave electrical shocks to telegraph operators in America.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalgeographic.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: nuke; nukez; nukezinspace; starfish
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1 posted on 07/16/2021 9:10:59 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I would have liked to have seen that!


2 posted on 07/16/2021 9:16:10 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists are The Droplet of Sewage in a gallon of ultra-pure clean water.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Because we could and it was cool.


3 posted on 07/16/2021 9:16:35 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: blueunicorn6

Not as cool as sending a tesla roadster into space to cruise the cosmos


4 posted on 07/16/2021 9:17:56 AM PDT by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Why the US once set off a nuclear bomb in space

Because we are global badasses when not encumbered by cisgendered-zero carbon footprint-vegan Generals ...

5 posted on 07/16/2021 9:18:22 AM PDT by SecondAmendment (This just proves my latest theory ... LEFTISTS RUIN EVERYTHING !)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Enter your email address to continue reading

no thanks


6 posted on 07/16/2021 9:19:31 AM PDT by Pollard
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Does anyone know how the telegraph lines were electrified during the Civil War and before? Dynamo?


7 posted on 07/16/2021 9:22:28 AM PDT by KingLudd
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To: Pollard

no thanks X 2

The noive!


8 posted on 07/16/2021 9:23:43 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress (http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/BYTOPICS/tabid/335/Default.aspx D)
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To: al baby

The Xandorthians have already stolen the wheels off that car.


9 posted on 07/16/2021 9:23:47 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer”)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

10 posted on 07/16/2021 9:25:46 AM PDT by Seruzawa (The political Left is the Garden of Eden of Incompetence - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: al baby

11 posted on 07/16/2021 9:27:42 AM PDT by Seruzawa (The political Left is the Garden of Eden of Incompetence - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: KingLudd

Early systems were both battery & dynamo. Later systems, I think all commercial were dynamo.


12 posted on 07/16/2021 9:27:55 AM PDT by Reily
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To: KingLudd

Batteries, wet cell batteries...


13 posted on 07/16/2021 9:28:29 AM PDT by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
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To: KingLudd

I once saw Civil War reenacters who re-created an old Army telegraph station. They had all of this vintage telegraph equipment - it was amazing. I’m pretty sure they powered things with big batteries.


14 posted on 07/16/2021 9:29:22 AM PDT by Wilhelm Tell (True or False? This is not a tag line.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

July 8, 1962


15 posted on 07/16/2021 9:31:32 AM PDT by plain talk
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To: DUMBGRUNT

There’s a very excellent documentary available called “Trinity and Beyond” that documents the US nuclear test programs up until the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Part of it shows the high-altitude tests conducted at Johnston Island. One of them knocked out power over a large area of the pacific from the EMP effect. Those were the days!


16 posted on 07/16/2021 9:36:57 AM PDT by D_Idaho ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...")
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To: Pollard

Enter your email address to continue reading

no thanks
*************************
I just entered suck@wuck.net
and it let me read the rest of the article. LOL fer realz


17 posted on 07/16/2021 9:37:21 AM PDT by Honest Nigerian
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To: KingLudd

Magnetos, hand-cranked. Real cutting edge tech for the time.


18 posted on 07/16/2021 9:37:21 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: al baby
Not as cool as sending a tesla roadster into space to cruise the cosmos
19 posted on 07/16/2021 9:38:58 AM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true, I have no proof, but they're true !)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

I remember when that happened, although we did not see anything as we were too far away.

It did make another radiation belt around the earth. Some were worried it might set the Van Allen Radiation belt on fire as shown in the 1961 movie VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA.


20 posted on 07/16/2021 9:40:37 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar ((Democrats have declared us to be THE OBSOLETE MAN in the Twilight Zone.))
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