[Yardstick]

I've seen the video and find it thoroughly unconvincing as proof of a missile. In particular I don't see how anyone with any kind of spatial reasoning can perceive it as traveling towards the west. That is just absurd.

Look at the lower part of the contrail, the part closest to the horizon. Do you see how red it is?

That's because it's further away from us. There's more hazy atmosphere between us and it which gives it a redder color. If the base of the contrail were closer to us -- as would be the case if the rocket were travelling westward or northwestward -- it wouldn't be red like that.

Also, look at the subtle shadow cast by the contrail.

That shadow wouldn't be there if the contrail were headed out westward, and it certainly wouldn't move in relationship to the contrail the way it does. Only a contrail heading towards you can cast a shadow like that.

Also, just generally the lighting on the contrail is consistent with being lit from the rear, side and underneath at a glancing angle by the setting sun. I've seen several times where people have said the lighting on the contrail could only come from a vertical launch but that simply strikes me as wrong.

Everything -- all of the subtle visual cues that we use to judge the position and orientation of things -- seem perfectly consistent with an airliner flying in from the west in an eastern direction.

The notion that the still shots are "unconfirmed" is simply grasping at straws to avoid facing the reality of what's going on here. Look at the Cargo Law site. They have a fixed web cam positioned at a point somewhat north of the contrail. And guess what -- it has a profile shot of the contrail that plainly shows it coming in from the west in an eastern direction. Either that or they're part of the conspiracy...but come on. How about the NASA pic showing the contrail? Is it part of the conspiracy?

Occam's razor and basic spatial reasoning say this thing was a plane.

[Finny]

Occam's razor and basic spatial reasoning say this thing was a plane.

You're kidding yourself.

[higgmeister]

Only a contrail heading towards you can cast a shadow like that.

A shadow is cast behind an object when the object is between a light source and the shadow it creates. The Sun sets at dusk in the West over The Pacific Ocean. If what you are seeing is a shadow of a contrail you would have to be the Sun as the dark line you refer to appears to the left and therefore behind the plume.

The darker red illumination of the exhaust plume at the horizon is cause by that part of the sky already beginning to be in darkness whereas the upper part of the sky is still lit from the Sun at an angle below the horizon. The proof of this is that the foreground of the photos is already darkness of the terminator.

The Rick Warren photos are clearly no proof of a jet aircraft arcing Easterly over the USA.