NavList:

I posted this originally on August 2, which may be relevant to interpreting the photo. It's been quiet recently... spooky quiet... almost too quiet... ;-o. So I figured I would introduce it again. How many navigation stars can you identify in the photo? [Hint: a lot!] What direction are we facing? [Hint: close to a cardinal point] For this last bit, note that photos like this are usually two-part composites. One exposure picks up the actual launch, and a second longer exposure gets the stars. The stars leave trails during the longer exposure, and naturally those trails, even as short as they are in this case, allow us to determine the compass direction with some accuracy. How? Zoom in on the image (the full-scale image that you get by clicking through the preview) and look for the little short streaks. Each streak, each star trail, is a portion of a circumpolar arc. Draw rays perpendicular to those streaks and find where they cross. You should find Polaris there, right?

Extra credit: what country is this rocket being launched from, and what little patch of land are we seeing in the foreground?

Frank Reed