[Political Junkie Too]

My question still is this:

Wouldn't the contrail appear to dim towards the east because the sun is rapidly setting in the west, even if the plane is at 35K feet? Wouldn't it dim more quickly than the sunset rate because the plane is also flying at 500mph in the opposite direction? Would you really expect to see a uniform reflection along the entire contrial if it is reflecting from the setting sun? At the end of the contrail, we even see the flare of relfection off the plane/missile. Is this really expected from an object at the furthest eastern part of a setting sun?

Wouldn't the reflection appear uniform only if the object were continuosly rising to remain in the direct sunlight?

-PJ

[Finny]

I don't know -- you'd have to ask someone who is expert in those things, and he'd explain the "otherwise it'd look like this" in detail. I HAVE asked such a person, at length, so much at length in fact that I daren't ask anymore or I might get my head bit off. Frankly, he's sick of the subject and shrugs off people who don't see what is to him, obvious. Until he explained it, it wasn't quite so obvious to me though it struck me that the object was headed upward and then to the north west, according to the sun, but he's the pro on that and I'm not. However, I can only take so many lectures from this person who has taught perspective and lighting not just at college levels, but university levels (I just found out). So you might want to find your own source to answer the questions you put forth.

He says the lighting and perspective show that it's a vertical plume of an object heading north-west, more precisely, west north-west. Since he makes a living knowing such things, I'll take his word for it over guys like Rob, TX and Mu, I believe NONE of whom have ever seen an actual missile launch, and I believe whose first-hand knowledge of L.A. area skies (and their contrails!) is limited to nonexistent. Though all three certainly have a high opinion of their own abilities!