[muawiyah]

But they have pictures! All Janes and the retired General have is one picture ~ and they didn't actually stop to think about how wide the blast-off field was if it looks 2 degrees in width at up to 62 miles away (the distance of the horizon at 2500 feet).

That would be the biggest missile launch in all of human history ~ kind of like tying a dozen Saturn Vs together.

When you look up at something maybe 37,000 feet away (6 miles) you are looking through 1/20, at most, the amount of air you are looking through to see the "base" of the contrail. See how it spreads out to the horizon? It's being magnified just like a Full Moon rising on the horizon. It narrows the closer it gets to you as the magnification is reduced.

They say that the closer to the beginning of time we look, the larger the stars appear ~ and that was recently reported to definitely be true. It has to do with the way light is dealt with as it passes through matter and spreads out. Magnifying glasses, eyeblasses, lense appliances inserted after cataract surgery, etc. all work according to the same optical principles.

This stuff happens on large scales and small.

[The Comedian]

When you look up at something maybe 37,000 feet away (6 miles) you are looking through 1/20, at most, the amount of air you are looking through to see the "base" of the contrail. See how it spreads out to the horizon? It's being magnified just like a Full Moon rising on the horizon. It narrows the closer it gets to you as the magnification is reduced.

*Thank* you!

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.