Markus Baur wrote in
:

nice pic ...

one question .. does anyone know what the light in the SSME engines
is?

at landing have have already been inert for days, so it cannto be
residual engine heat - and i find a reflection of searchlights inside
the engine kind of hard to belive considering that you are looking
directly at the injector head, which is not that smooth ..

servus

markus


Take a look at the High Rez version of this shot of the SME
within the chamber is a smaller chamber, it appears highly reflective.
so I would go with the reflection of the landing light array used to
light the runway..


http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/sirs/photos/.../96-061-21.jpg

and FWTW: the interior of the main combustion chamber is highly
reflective.

http://images.ksc.nasa.gov/photos/19...-99PP-0981.jpg