Comments on: Norwegian spiral sets the news ablaze http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/ A blog about science and programming Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:01:18 +0200 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Stefano Borini http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/comment-page-1/#comment-9401 Stefano Borini Sat, 08 May 2010 02:58:39 +0000 http://forthescience.org/blog/?p=262#comment-9401 It was moving, there was a trail. The fact that it wasn't rushing away, but remained relatively put is because it was flying at considerable height. When you observe an airplane flying in the sky, you see it moving slowly, even if it's moving at 900 km/hour. For the exact same reason, even if the rocket was moving, its distance from the observer was so large that its apparent movement was negligible. In addition to that, if something distant flies directly towards you, it seems not to move, because it is reducing its distance from you, but you cannot evaluate it (you evaluate distance by focus or parallax). If you observed the sky frequently, you probably had the chance to observe a falling star heading just straight in front of you. It's rare, but happens. What you see is just a bright dot that appears and stays put in the sky, to disappear briefly afterwards. That object is moving fast, but since it is doing it right in front of you, you cannot appreciate any change in its angular position, hence it appears static. All what I said applies to the rocket as well. It was moving, there was a trail. The fact that it wasn’t rushing away, but remained relatively put is because it was flying at considerable height. When you observe an airplane flying in the sky, you see it moving slowly, even if it’s moving at 900 km/hour. For the exact same reason, even if the rocket was moving, its distance from the observer was so large that its apparent movement was negligible.
In addition to that, if something distant flies directly towards you, it seems not to move, because it is reducing its distance from you, but you cannot evaluate it (you evaluate distance by focus or parallax). If you observed the sky frequently, you probably had the chance to observe a falling star heading just straight in front of you. It’s rare, but happens. What you see is just a bright dot that appears and stays put in the sky, to disappear briefly afterwards. That object is moving fast, but since it is doing it right in front of you, you cannot appreciate any change in its angular position, hence it appears static.

All what I said applies to the rocket as well.

]]> By: JesusActionFigure http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/comment-page-1/#comment-9400 JesusActionFigure Sat, 08 May 2010 00:33:18 +0000 http://forthescience.org/blog/?p=262#comment-9400 If the thing was a rocket, don't you think that the source of the spiral (as Russia suggests) would be flying into the sky, like a rocket? It doesn't make sense to me that a rocket, would stay immobile in the sky, supposedly spinning and spitting out a spiral shaped excretion. Just my opinion. If the thing was a rocket, don’t you think that the source of the spiral (as Russia suggests) would be flying into the sky, like a rocket? It doesn’t make sense to me that a rocket, would stay immobile in the sky, supposedly spinning and spitting out a spiral shaped excretion. Just my opinion.

]]> By: Stefano Borini http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/comment-page-1/#comment-9393 Stefano Borini Wed, 05 May 2010 04:19:50 +0000 http://forthescience.org/blog/?p=262#comment-9393 It's part of development of the Bulava rocket, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSM-56_Bulava . So in some sense it's new war technology in testing, but hardly secret. It’s part of development of the Bulava rocket, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSM-56_Bulava . So in some sense it’s new war technology in testing, but hardly secret.

]]> By: joe http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/comment-page-1/#comment-9390 joe Tue, 04 May 2010 18:12:51 +0000 http://forthescience.org/blog/?p=262#comment-9390 could be some kind of military secret testing of som kind of new technology? could be some kind of military secret testing of som kind of new technology?

]]> By: Dexter77 http://forthescience.org/blog/2009/12/10/norwegian-spiral-sets-the-news-ablaze/comment-page-1/#comment-8748 Dexter77 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:43:07 +0000 http://forthescience.org/blog/?p=262#comment-8748 Funny! But not alien! ;) Funny! But not alien! ;)

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