more coincidence, less far-fetched

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
McVoid

more coincidence, less far-fetched

Post by McVoid » Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 pm

Looking for a single cause for the flash and the dark track is the first thing to try, but the explanations seem far-fetched.

Considered separately: the flash looks quite similar in color to the clouds in the distance; could it be the plume of droplets from an impact in the bay?

The dark track looks like what you might get from an out-of-focus foreground object, such as a hair, crossing in front of the lens. The perfect straightness of it is disturbing, though, for that explanation.

Neither of these, of course, has anything to do with the lamp.

For single explanations, I'd favor something like a very rapidly moving piece of space junk or aircraft part, leaving a thin smoky trail. The latter probably would fall too slowly to leave such a straight track.