July 25, 2011: Final shuttle return to Earth

Undertoad · 07-24-2011, 03:41 PM

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...amme-ends.html

Quote:

It is an image like none ever seen before and it is only fitting it should be saved for the final, historic voyage.

Astronauts at the International Space Station captured a breathtaking image of Atlantis as it made its last ever voyage back to Earth.

The shuttle appears like a luminous body of light shooting across the atmosphere and is pictured just as it re-enters the earth's atmosphere - which appears like a yellow dome engulfing Earth.

sexobon · 07-24-2011, 04:00 PM

Are you sure that's not just sunlight reflecting off a hair on the window?

ogwen69 · 07-24-2011, 05:51 PM

This wins IOTD.

I had a lifelong ambition to see the shuttle launch just once, now I never will. I got close ish, a mate lives close enough to post FB pics from her front porch, and while in Northern Cuba when this launch went off I at least could look in the right direction and hope the cloud cleared. It didn't.

But yeah, my favest pic evah!

classicman · 07-24-2011, 06:30 PM

That pic is teh Awesome!

Wombat · 07-24-2011, 10:19 PM

I didn't realise it went into such a steep dive!

ZenGum · 07-25-2011, 03:50 AM

Sniff sniff.

Does not compute.

I think that photo is of the shuttle (or some other rocket) launching, not landing.

Firstly, that looks like a trail of vapour and/or smoke. That would only happen on take off, wouldn't it? And the trail is at its most intense at the top, suggesting that is where the vehicle is when the photo is snapped - after climbing up.

Further, it is a perfect parabolic curve. It is too steep for a descent. It looks like a lift off, not a return, to me.

Not sure though, I've never been on the shuttle. Whadda you guys think?

BigV · 07-25-2011, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Sniff sniff.

Does not compute.

I think that photo is of the shuttle (or some other rocket) launching, not landing.

Firstly, that looks like a trail of vapour and/or smoke. That would only happen on take off, wouldn't it? And the trail is at its most intense at the top, suggesting that is where the vehicle is when the photo is snapped - after climbing up.

Further, it is a perfect parabolic curve. It is too steep for a descent. It looks like a lift off, not a return, to me.

Not sure though, I've never been on the shuttle. Whadda you guys think?

maybe I can help compute this...

I think it's the shuttle at the beginning of its re-entry into the atmosphere, not a rocket launching.

It makes a vapor trail where there's atmosphere and water to make the vapor, this happens in other places where there isn't a rocket launch. A jet airliner makes a vapor trail, a contrail, a condensation trail, right?

Next two points together please.

The earth is very nearly a perfect sphere. A single orbit is very nearly a perfect circle. Now, imagine this. Take a circle, a large disk would be helpful. If you look at the disk from a low oblique angle, the edge of the disk makes a curve that looks like a parabola, just like in the picture. When you see a bicycle wheel, in a picture or an illustration, it's almost never a circle, it's an ellipse, right? You're looking at a section of the circular path the shuttle's making from *above* and slightly to the left of the shuttle, over it's left shoulder kind of. The shuttle is moving away from the photographer in the ISS.

It is getting brighter at the "end" of the track because the atmosphere is denser as it continues to descend, more water, more vapor, more trail.

Does this help?

glatt · 07-25-2011, 10:12 AM

It's interesting to me that the stars are visible in the shot and so is the strong blue color of the oceans. Is it daylight? Is it dusk? You would think that for the stars to have the proper exposure, the Earth would be completely washed out. There is a bit of motion blurring in the clouds, so it's a fairly long exposure. Possibly a couple seconds long. I don't really understand this photograph.

Spexxvet · 07-25-2011, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV

glatt's right at the rate of about $63 million dollars a ticket.

Don't worry, we'll be able to by tickets from the Cinese at the dollar store in a couple of years.

Pete Zicato · 07-28-2011, 05:12 PM

.

Griff · 07-30-2011, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

.

Amen.

SPUCK · 07-25-2011, 05:24 AM

That was my first thought too. But. The shuttle isn't running engines that you'd see as yellow that high out on the climb. Also it's not really that steep. It's a shot that's massively foreshortened because it's taken sort of from behind the descending shuttle.

ZenGum · 07-25-2011, 06:31 AM

Mmmmmyeahhhhh ... second thoughts ...

I think it was the phrase "dailymail" that made me wary!

Gravdigr · 07-25-2011, 07:25 AM

Well that's fairly fucking awesome.

CaliforniaMama · 07-25-2011, 08:46 AM

I always suspected we lived in a dome and this proves it.

07-24-2011, 06:30 PM	#4
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	That pic is teh Awesome! __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

07-24-2011, 10:19 PM	#5
Wombat (marsupial with backward-facing pouch) Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Canberra Posts: 251	I didn't realise it went into such a steep dive! __________________ If you don't do it properly, you'll get to the pub sooner.

07-25-2011, 03:50 AM	#6
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	Sniff sniff. Does not compute. I think that photo is of the shuttle (or some other rocket) launching, not landing. Firstly, that looks like a trail of vapour and/or smoke. That would only happen on take off, wouldn't it? And the trail is at its most intense at the top, suggesting that is where the vehicle is when the photo is snapped - after climbing up. Further, it is a perfect parabolic curve. It is too steep for a descent. It looks like a lift off, not a return, to me. Not sure though, I've never been on the shuttle. Whadda you guys think? __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

07-28-2011, 05:12 PM	#10
Pete Zicato Turns out my CRS is a symptom of TMB. Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chicago suburbs Posts: 2,916	. Attached Images __________________ Talk nerdy to me.

07-25-2011, 06:31 AM	#13
ZenGum Doctor Wtf Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Badelaide, Baustralia Posts: 12,861	Mmmmmyeahhhhh ... second thoughts ... I think it was the phrase "dailymail" that made me wary! __________________ Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008. Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.

07-24-2011, 04:00 PM	#2
sexobon I love it when a plan comes together. Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 9,793	Are you sure that's not just sunlight reflecting off a hair on the window?

07-24-2011, 05:51 PM	#3
ogwen69 Custom User Title goes here Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 42	This wins IOTD. I had a lifelong ambition to see the shuttle launch just once, now I never will. I got close ish, a mate lives close enough to post FB pics from her front porch, and while in Northern Cuba when this launch went off I at least could look in the right direction and hope the cloud cleared. It didn't. But yeah, my favest pic evah!

07-25-2011, 10:12 AM	#8
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	It's interesting to me that the stars are visible in the shot and so is the strong blue color of the oceans. Is it daylight? Is it dusk? You would think that for the stars to have the proper exposure, the Earth would be completely washed out. There is a bit of motion blurring in the clouds, so it's a fairly long exposure. Possibly a couple seconds long. I don't really understand this photograph.

07-25-2011, 05:24 AM	#12
SPUCK Professor Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1,911	That was my first thought too. But. The shuttle isn't running engines that you'd see as yellow that high out on the climb. Also it's not really that steep. It's a shot that's massively foreshortened because it's taken sort of from behind the descending shuttle.

07-25-2011, 07:25 AM	#14
Gravdigr The Un-Tuckian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: South Central...KY that is Posts: 39,517	Well that's fairly fucking awesome. __________________ These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA, EPA, FBI, DEA, CDC, or FDIC. These statements are not intended to diagnose, cause, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. If you feel you have been harmed/offended by, or, disagree with any of the above statements or images, please feel free to fuck right off.

07-25-2011, 08:46 AM	#15
CaliforniaMama I wonder . . . Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: The Left Coast, a pretty good place to be. Posts: 1,278	I always suspected we lived in a dome and this proves it. __________________ Take time for silence. You never know what you might hear.

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