Good timing Gary!
Could the difference in colour in the star trails and exhaust plume be
explained through atmospheric pollution, or colour shift in the
atmospher at low angles?
It's an interesting composition whatever the reason.
Chris
On 1 May 2004, at 01:58, Gary Edwards wrote:
> I went out to the Range for a tracking mission two weeks ago. I
> arrived the night before our mission and, after dinner, drove out to
> San Augustine Pass with my battered, old OM-1N (in its beautiful new
> Morgan Sparks red mark lizard!).
>
> I knew that a Terrier-Orion sounding rocket launch was scheduled
> sometime between 20:50 and 21:50 by the published times for the road
> blocks on US Highway 70, which crosses the Range joining Las Cruces
> and Alamagordo. I set up my tripod behind the porta-potties just east
> of the summit and waited.
>
> When westbound traffic ceased, I began making timed two-minute
> exposures using the audible alarm on my wrist watch. I was about to
> close the shutter on the seventh exposure and wind to the next frame
> when I saw the ignition flash below me in the valley. I had not been
> certain where the launch site was as I set up in the dark, but I had
> centered a flashing red light (a sign of ordnance on the pad) at about
> where I though the launcher was. I watched with the cable release in
> my hand as a Venus-bright star rose vertically into the sky and then
> winked out. Some seconds later the second stage ignited and the
> star-bight point of light continued to far above me. After the light
> winked out a second time, I could still follow a dull red glowing
> point by craning my neck back. I closed the shutter.
>
> Here is the result: http://flightpixels.com/TerrierOrion3.jpg
>
> I am not yet happy with the scan but you get the idea. There are
> several interesting points to note. The exposure is perhaps three
> minutes at f/8 with a Zuiko 35/2.8 silver-nose on Provia 100F. The
> star trails are much more brightly colored than one's perception - a
> typical result. They are also longer than I would have guessed for
> three minutes. You can see that the camera was steady and the lens is
> sharp because the star trails are crisp, but the overexposure of many
> fixed lights on the ground with wind or dust produced oddly shaped
> white blotches. Also, my perception was that the vehicle ascended
> essentially vertically. From the image you can see that the
> trajectory was significantly inclined to the north. This is necessary
> to place the impact in a safe area north and west of Holloman AFB.
>
> If I get another chance, I'll use a slightly wider lens, say a 24,
> oriented vertically (now that I know the launch position) and stop
> down one stop. I welcome suggestions for scanning and processing the
> image.
>
> regards,
> Gary Edwards
<|_:-)_|>
C M I Barker
Cambridgeshire, Great Britain.
+44 (0)7092 251126
ftog at threeshoes.co.uk
http://www.threeshoes.co.uk
http://homepage.mac.com/zuiko
... a nascent photo library.
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