WHAT IS THIS LINE? (on my Super Blue Blood Moon Photo) - Smarter Every Day 188

Looking forward to hearing what more you find out about it, and if you get any answers!

I’m no major in science, but the following thoughts came to mind, as my family and I were watching you being so stumped about the line. (and I have to add that these thoughts are along the same lines as "Robert" above) First thought/observation: The line is stationary and constant, meaning it must be in relation to the rocket (stationary object) not the moon (moving object) Second thought: Air currents — think of how the air flows around an object, the height and shape of the object, the moisture content in that air flowing around the object, the strength of the wind, perhaps temperatures of both. Third thought: Because of your exact positioning and the wind direction you saw this even line (caused and maintained by the above elements) on both sides. Also, with the moon, a bright object behind this, (not to mention the sun rising) you were able to see it, even though it was most likely there all along with the weather conditions at that moment. Fourth thought: In relation to air currents, there could (not necessarily though) be a similar effect to that of which happens to an airplane wing (from what I’ve witnessed) with the moisture around the wing upon descend. So, my thought/theory/conclusion (whatever you want to call it) at this point is this: What you were catching was the moisture in the air currents around the tip of the rocket as the moon passed behind it, illuminating it perfectly so you could see it. And because of your positioning and the exact element conditions at that point, it appeared as a stationary continuous line. I hope these thoughts make sense and are not confusing. I tried to spell out all that’s jangling through my mind. Again, these are all only ideas that aren’t based on any research yet but observations.

I was speaking with my dad about this questions. We think it is caused by the wind hitting the peak of the rocket causing a change in density in the air. Also the rocket is very tall so that the wind field could be quite uniform until it hits the rocket. The wind hitting the top of the rocket could cause a pressure wave that looks somewhat like a wake of a boat or high speed aircraft. It only looks like a line because we are seeing it edge on. If that were true, the wake would spread out a bit toward the edges and not be precisely symmetrical because it is improbable that we would be precisely lined up with the wind. When I look at the images there is a hint of it not being completely symmetrical, but not very convincing. Also Destin talked about getting down from the man basket, because of the strong cold wind. I looked on weather underground and it said that during the eclipse the wind was parralell with the line from the rocket towards the church.

I think contrail is a decent theory. Here's a screenshot from FlightRadar24: <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=144jkvQe-wCm0CzVGK0X-gZwiVk94be9R" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/open?id=144jkvQe-wCm0CzVGK0X-gZwiVk94be9R</a> Really decent chance it's one of the planes flying over Tennessee at that time.

The Moon makes first contact with the rocket in IMG_9723 (camera time 7:30:46.89) and the silhouette is not visible. The next photo IMG_9724 (camera time 7:30:54.00) the silhouette is clear. There are a bunch of planes flying the right bearing into Memphis at that time, and the flight path is about 175mi from Destins location...

Jayden Newstead

How about a wave interference pattern ? Notice how on your successive shots the line is stronger when the tip of the Saturn V first hits the bottom of the moon, and the line fades away the lower the moon goes and the closer the tip gets to the penumbra ? I think the very bright zone at the edge of the moon acts kinda like a laser beam (on these scales light-rays are mostly parallel right ?) and the tip of the Saturn V acts as the double slit, or like a string, and creates destructive interference pattern. You just happened to be located on one of the dark spots of the pattern, how about that ? By the way i love your videos, been watching them for yeaaaars, finally became a patron to show a little gratitude, thank you so much and keep doing what you love, cheers :D

Yes! Kevin Pluck brought up Planefinder on Twitter and we were trying to determine if we could figure out which exact plane it was - but there are too many possible planes and too many loose variables. Need to nail down the exact elevation of the cameras and of the Saturn V, then correct for the curvature of the earth, and, crucially, at those distances it looks like atmospheric refraction is in play and will mess with the figures. And it's one thing to find a plane that fits the data, but the age of the contrail is unknown - it could have been from a plane that went by the minute it was photographed, or it could be quite old (I've seen contrails linger in the sky a long time). Or it could be one of the unrelated causes that people have put forward. I think the contrail is a likely though boring answer (Occam's razor), but I'd love for it to be some kind of weird diffraction effect - I've just never seen one like that. It's fascinating that we can even be at a point where I can sit at my computer at home and speculate on which aircraft flying over Tennessee might have caused these trails seen in a photo taken a few days ago in Alabama. Isn't that crazy? I didn't know there was a website like planefinder.net until today.

I have to agree with you. I was going down the same path and calculated a downrange distance of 145-290 miles depending on altitude. That puts you somewhere over the northeastern-most corner of Arkansas. I search for flights in the area that would've been around the right time at <a href="https://planefinder.net/," rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://planefinder.net/,</a> but nothing jumped out at me right away.

I don't know how to describe, but I think there was an interference between the light on the top of the rocket with the light of the moon. The wave-lenght of both in certain distance became a Destructive Interference, resulting in a black horizontal line in the lens of camera.

I really support this one, I came to say this. Besides, from the explanation below the video I think that he means that it only appeared on cameras at the same location. This clearly supports the troposphere refraction theory, as two cameras standing 2 meters apart would look like the same spot to a device receiving light, from a 2.2-mile source. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_propagation</a>#Tropospheric_modes

I'm not ready to dismiss contrails based on there being no aircraft in the area, and here's why: I've done some rude math based on sketchy figures, but I think it's close enough to make the general point. Assuming a distance of 3.57km between you and the Saturn V (taken from TPE), an altitude difference of 100meters between you and the top of the rocket (assuming equal elevation, a 110m height for the Saturn V and you being 10m up in the lift), and the approximate altitude at which contrails could form (8 kms according to Wikipedia so it must be true), I calculated the angle between you and the top of the rocket to be 1.605 degrees. Using this equation to solve for distance: height * (1 / tan(angle)) = distance 8km * (1 / tan(1.605)) = 285km, or 177 miles My point is that if it IS a contrail, it could be VERY far away. So far that you wouldn't see it under normal observation - nor would you be likely to notice the aircraft that produced it - but we know from photographing the ISS that smaller things than contrails are visible from a greater distance away when silhouetted by the sun (or the moon). It's boring to say it's a contrail rather than an optical effect from the light or the shadow of the flat earth on the moon, but I'm drawn towards the simple answer. :\

Could it be slight refraction from layers of air that get formed due to (turbulence of) wind blowing undisturbed above the tip of the rocket and disturbed around the tip? If the wake of the disturbance is coming towards your camera position, it might explain why it's observable on both sides of the tip.

I just asked a light reflection question to the scishow guys, but here's my idea.... Thermal filtration of light, I'm not sure exactly what you call it but this is what I think it is... Do you know how when you're driving a car maybe in the early morning or evening hours? And you're on that long stretch of road... And way off in the distance the road looks like it has a mirror surface but the closer you get it seems to melt like ice?... I think maybe the rocket had temperature fluctuating because the sun was going down and the rocket was still warm from the Sun? I'm not sure of this but... It's either that or, somehow light reflected from the moon in a certain spectrum was nulled by the same Ray's directly from the sun. Or last guess.... It has something to do with the reason why it takes 6 to 8 minutes for light to reach hearth from the Sun but it's also the same light reflected off the Moon that takes longer.. so it's not as bright but you can still see it? But I honestly think it has something to do with the Reflection Point in between Earth and the Moon not from the Moon and the Sun.... I will also post this on your Twitter -mike

BooperNova

Does the line remain horizontal if the camera is yawed off of a flat horizon? Can't watch video to see if that is covered (stupid work video policies! ;) )

Jamie F

Were all cameras digital? Have you floated this question to Slow Mo Gav? It feels like digital tracking must have a role in this illusion.

Kristy