NASA probes 'electric zap' mystery photo:Former astronaut wowed by photo

World Net Daily ^ | February 5, 2003 | Joe Kovacs

[gitmo]

"Wow."

That was astronaut Tammy Jernigan's stunned reaction last night when she viewed a photo of what appears to be space shuttle Columbia getting zapped by a purplish electrical bolt shortly before it disintegrated Saturday morning.


Former astronaut Tammy Jernigan

"It certainly appears very anomalous," Jernigan told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We sure will be very interested in taking a very hard look at this."

The photo was one of five captured by an amateur astronomer in San Francisco who routinely snaps pictures of shuttles when they pass over the Bay area.

The pictures were taken just seven minutes before Columbia's fatal demise.

The Chronicle reports that top investigators of the disaster are now analyzing the startling photograph to try to solve the mystery.

The photographer continues to request his name be withheld, adding he would not release the image publicly until NASA has a chance to study it.

"[The photos] clearly record an electrical discharge like a lightning bolt flashing past, and I was snapping the pictures almost exactly ... when the Columbia may have begun breaking up during re-entry," the photographer originally told the paper Saturday night.

Late yesterday, the space agency sent Jernigan – a former shuttle flyer and now manager at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories – to the astronomer's home to view the image, and have the Nikon camera brought to Houston today.

It was slated to be flown to the Johnson Space Center by a NASA T-38 jet this morning.

Jernigan reportedly asked the astronomer about the f-stop setting on his lens, and how long he kept the shutter open – apparently some four to six seconds. A tripod was used to steady the camera, and the shutter was triggered manually.

"In the critical shot," states the Chronicle, "a glowing purple rope of light corkscrews down toward the plasma trail, appears to pass behind it, then cuts sharply toward it from below. As it merges with the plasma trail, the streak itself brightens for a distance, then fades."

"I couldn't see the discharge with my own eyes, but it showed up clear and bright on the film when I developed it," the photographer previously said. "But I'm not going to speculate about what it might be."

David Perlman, science editor for the Chronicle, called the photos "indeed puzzling."

"They show a bright scraggly flash of orange light, tinged with pale purple, and shaped somewhat like a deformed L," he wrote.

Space shuttle Columbia's rollout to the launchpad (NASA photo)

Jernigan no longer works for NASA, though she's a veteran of five shuttle missions in the 1990s. Ironically, on her final flight, the orbiter's pilot was Rick Husband, who was at the helm at 9 a.m. EST Saturday when Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the atmosphere.

"He was one of the finest people I could ever hope to know," Jernigan said.

According to her NASA biography, Jernigan graduated from Stanford in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in physics. She went on to earn master's degrees in engineering science and astronomy from Stanford and UC-Berkeley respectively. She also holds a doctorate in space physics and astronomy from Rice University.

She's spent over 63 days above the Earth, completing 1,000 orbits, and having walked in space for nearly eight hours during her final mission aboard shuttle Discovery in 1999.

Before flying on shuttles, she was a research scientist in the theoretical studies branch of NASA Ames Research Center, working on the study of bipolar outflows in the region of star formations, gamma ray bursters and shock-wave phenomena in the interstellar medium.

Regarding the Columbia disaster, the space agency is additionally investigating reports of possible remnants found in the West, including California and Arizona.

"Debris early in the flight path would be critical because that material would obviously be near the start of the events," said Michael Kostelnik, a NASA spaceflight office deputy.

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[Steve0113]

Does no one remember that the Shuttle went down in broad daylight in a cloudless sky? Fercrissakes, look at the picture, it's dark and cloudy. Someone explain that!!!!

The picture was taken in San Francisco before 6:00 AM local time. It was still dark there. Columbia came down over Texas, well after dawn there.

[the_marq]

So what you're telling me is that the Chinese don't have a super-electron-beam-weapon? Well, don't we all feel foolish then about discussing digital vs. film camera annomolies.

[TomServo]

The picture was taken in San Francisco before 6:00 AM local time. It was still dark there. Columbia came down over Texas, well after dawn there.

Geeez - he's talking about the Zot picture...

[ididntdoit2]

Does no one remember that the Shuttle went down in broad daylight in a cloudless sky? Fercrissakes, look at the picture, it's dark and cloudy. Someone explain that!!!!


A tesla weapon would have severe electrochemical impact on the flux density of the surrounding atmosphere creating the illusion of "clouds" when in fact it is the vapor trail from a Chinese Tesla weapon

[js1138]

I haven't used a Ninon 880, but I have used just about every other model in the 2-3 megapixel range. Artifacts are a big problem in low contrast objects (read sky). They're probably all over every shot, but hidden in detail.

I have tried to photograph dishes for eBay and wind up using the tiff mode, not for detail, but for lack of artifacts. It takes my 950 about two minutes to save an exposure.

But if the exposure itself is several minutes, perhaps that's not an issue.

[the_marq]

Just to make sure I'm not making a fool of myself (I am new here), we're still talking about this picture right?

[indivisible]

What's a ZOT. I'm new here and just learning. God Bless the USA.

[the silent man]

Do any of you ever whatch movies? Has anyone taken the time to enhance the picture (blow it up and lighten it a bit) to see what the figure in the center actually was? It is from a comedy movie some years ago... Bill Murray would be proud hysterical laughter .... .

[TomServo]

Just to make sure I'm not making a fool of myself (I am new here), we're still talking about this picture right?

Right. Let's make this clear.

1). This picture is frequently used by one of our moderators when banning folks.
2). The owner of this forum is from California.

One more thing - you may wanna hang around and "learn" the place a little before pronouncing this forum as "dumb" or "silly".

[TomServo]

What's a ZOT. I'm new here and just learning. God Bless the USA.

A term applied when banning folks from the forum. Comes from the BC comic strip..

Welcome to FR.

[the_marq]

OK, I understand now(thanks for the info). But I would still like to see the picture everyone is going on about.

[Richard Kimball]

Once again, it appears to be up to Freepers to hold the media accountable. Good thinking, blu. Another poster mentioned the Nikon N80, which if the camera was ID'd by phone interview, could have been confused with the 880 (sound alike). If the reporter saw the camera and still made the ID mistake, then he's the kind of guy who'd look at the Grand Canyon and say, "Hey, that's my ass!" (think about it)

The mistake on the camera type might be possible, as his description of processing just doesn't fit digital media, unless this guy REALLY doesn't know anything about cameras.

js1138, your write times for TIFF with the 950 are right in line with the 880. Nikon consumer digicams don't have any compression software and a small buffer. The TIFF files, which will be close to 10 meg on a 3.3 mp camera, will take over a minute to write to disk. That makes sequential frame shooting impossible in TIFF mode.

If it was, in fact, the N80, then the film and lens type become the significant issues. With cameras like Nikon, the quality of the body is usually pretty good, so it does what it's supposed to do. Lenses then become a huge issue. If he's shooting with a 1200 mm extended lens with a 2X teleconverter (not likely, if he's using an N80, those lenses can cost over 4 grand), he could get some amazing detail. If, more likely, he's using a short consumer level zoom, like most average Joes put on their cameras, I don't think there will be much there.

[TigersEye]

Nice pic. That's a beautiful puddy tat but he/she looks kind of tame. Looking into its eyes doesn't quite evoke the feeling my nick is meant to suggest. The feeling I think one should have when thinking of China, not me. Just imagine walking in a forest alone and unarmed and suddenly being confronted by a hungry tiger. Look into its eyes and see its intent. IMNHO that is the feeling an unambiguous view of China should bring to the pit of every Americans stomach.

I suspect the most obvious explanation now.

Sound wisdom.

I'll look at lasers from China if the first hypothesis is proven wrong.

That's a big leap! What about my suggestion that it could be a natural phenomena? A reaction of electrical charge in the atmosphere with an object that is creating a plasma field as it hurtles through the upper atmosphere? If it is an instantaneous phenomena that happens only once or twice during reentry it's quite possible (IMO) that no one has seen it or captured it on film before. This thread shows just how much amazing phenomena there is that is still being discovered.

Thanks for the reply. FReegards, TigersEye

[Leggett]

Hey people. This so called picture is a scene from the movie Caddyshack where the priest gets struck by lightning.

[TomServo]

But I would still like to see the picture everyone is going on about.

Apparently the photo hasn't been released to the public until NASA has had the chance to review it.

[Dead Dog]

The Russians tracked and hit a shuttle with a megawatt laser in the 80's. It disabled comm and caused some discomfort in the crew. The technology is not that sophisticated, armature astronomers track satellites every day (night).

[j_nc]

You're right - it is a dumb picture to pass off as the shuttle being struck by lightning - it's actually a video grab of a still frame from the movie Caddyshack.

[Richard Kimball]

Thanks for the compliments on the photo. Does this guy look a little less friendly?

I was being a little facetious in my comments on the laser from China. Yeah, I think a static discharge or several other possibilities are very likely, IF we can rule out camera artifacting of some sort. Watching the theories here, though, was starting to get funny. We come up with some great stuff at Freep, but occasionally, I think the rope on the maypole snaps and some of us fly a little bit out of orbit with our theories. That's okay, though, and I'm NOT saying a laser-based weapon isn't possible. It's just that if I come home and my wife isn't there, I suspect she's at the store before I suspect she was abducted by aliens.