S.F. man's astounding photo Mysterious purple streak is shown hitting Columbia

San Fran Chronicle ^ | February 5, 2003 | Sabin Russell

[KneelBeforeZod]

Top investigators of the Columbia space shuttle disaster are analyzing a startling photograph -- snapped by an amateur astronomer from a San Francisco hillside -- that appears to show a purplish electrical bolt striking the craft as it streaked across the California sky.

[Paul Ross]

Actually they have photographed 'sprites' which are arcs of electricity ABOVE the atmosphere over areas of general lightning strikes. It is a mysterious phenomenon that is being researched. That being said, the skies over California, Nevada, Arizona, N.M., Texas were all crystal clear. No lightning activity. Ergo, no sprites.

While it is preliminary, perhaps the photographer has cause and effect reversed. I.e., something didn't hit the shuttle, but instead flew off. If the camera's chroma are in fact accurate, then NASA might be able to tell the chemical composition of the debris...and hence what part of the shuttle hull might have broken loose.

The association of the timing with the early failures is strongly suggestive that this is NOT a simple artifact of sloppy camera technique.

And it is also unlikely that it would be a hoax from a professional astronomer...who went out of his way to stay anonymous...and is not 'marketing' the photo.

[b4its2late]

Don't know about this picture, but I heard today they think that possibly the shuttle hit some space junk possibly too. There's alot of it floating around up there.

[Mamzelle]

re: transported by a NASA T-38 jet )))

Oh, great.

[Paul Ross]

Darn, you beat me to it! I should have read ahead before posting! You really stay up too late at night...

[Riley]

Don't know about this picture, but I heard today they think that possibly the shuttle hit some space junk possibly too. There's alot of it floating around up there.

Speaking of space junk, did you ever see the footage of the paint chip that struck one of the shuttle viewports on an earlier mission? Because of the extreme speeds involved, it looked like a bullet strike! I can't imagine if it'd been a bolt or a wrench or something.

[COBOL2Java]

Don't know about this picture, but I heard today they think that possibly the shuttle hit some space junk possibly too. There's alot of it floating around up there.

Could have been Hillary's broomstick they hit. She may have circling over San Francisco in anticipation of some strategery session with Pelosi...

[ppaul]

could have been Hillary's broomstick.....

LOL!

[glock rocks]

these are from the approximate time of the shuttle's flight over the west coast… us radar …

infared satellite …

actually, looks fairly quiet over San Francisco.... be interesting to know the direction his photo was taken...

[Marysecretary]

You're cute! Thanks for the visual.

[eastsider]

Is this what you were looking for?

[MindBender26]

Good idea about reviewing the image. Like a mass spectrometer can tell chemical composition by the color of a burning piece of a sample, such a color photograph of an item burning from the heat of recovery might give an indication of what was burning.

[null and void]

Purples and yellow tinges have been known to be caused by devloping and processing.

"The digital image is one of five snapped by the shuttle buff at roughly 5:53 a.m." Digital. No film. No developing. No film processing...

[Fitzcarraldo]

The urls for your pics start with "ftp" - I replaced "ftp" with "http":

[janetgreen]

That's France, not Canada

Good one.

[glock rocks]

i got through my blond moment early today.

sheesh. thanks.

[fella]

"I would assume a lightning bolt could hit something moving at 12,500 MPH at 200,000 feet up ???"

How about a high powered beam of some sort, such as a lazer? Would it ionize the air about it to cause a glow?

[windcliff]

ping

[onedoug]

Electricity for thought. Thanks.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up and the information!

[NormsRevenge]

Dittos on that Sabertooth info post as well.

BUMP