slightly OT - NASA ER-2

"Tony Goetz" wrote in news:1%C0g.3769$WA3.848
@tornado.socal.rr.com:

Snipola
Hey Brian, has it been relatively consistent in the time of day it appears?
I live in Westminster and go to school in Pomona and would love to catch a
glimpse of it (as would the other aerospac guys at school, I'm sure).
Snipola

It appears that on this particular day it was on a half hour long
race track. The times on my images for each fo the three photo
passes were all around 1:30, 2:00, and 2:30pm local.

The day before, on April 12, my very fuzzy pictures are time stamped
at 3:36pm. These were totally out of focus but I ID'd the plane
visually.

Before that, I have two fuzzy pictures taken at 2:07pm local on
March 14th. That was my very first sighting.

Needless to say I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

Oh, and I've found a contact at NASA Dryden that I've emailed. I
hope to get more information, like tail number, mission, and perhaps
a note from the pilot.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

Skywise wrote in news:1245n0dkkfsst01
@corp.supernews.com:

I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian

On further consideration, this may indeed be a WB-57.

I had looked up the B-57 on wikipedia, but all the pictures
showed stubby clipped triangular wings.

But someone else in another group provided this link,

http://jsc-aircraft-ops.jsc.nasa.gov/wb57/

This shows the NASA WB-57's, and they do look alot like what
I photographed, and nothing like the pics on Wikipedia. Going
back to that article, I found mention that the USAF had ordered
several of these planes but with modified 33 and later 37 meter
wings. Much larger than the original 20 meter wings.

Now, knowing that the plane has two engines would explain the
split vapor trail seen in the first images. I had assumed this
was just some sort of vortex effect causing the single exhaust
of the ER-2 to split.

Furthermore, looking at the enhanced image, the tail does bear
a striking resemblence to the WB-57. The vertical fin starts
ahead of the elevators like the WB-57 does, whereas the ER-2
has them both starting at about the same place.

Wow. Learned something new. I was not even aware of the WB-57's.

Now I have to redo my webpage.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote in message ...
I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian
--


So...how do you hook up your camera to the telescope?

hmmm.... maybe so.. thanx
BT

"Skywise" wrote in message
...
"Kyle Boatright" wrote in
:


"BTIZ" wrote in message
news:j%C0g.7170$Qz.1048@fed1read11...
interesting to know which plane the last 3 pictures are of?
definitely not the same as the first that could be the U-2
much different wing profile
BT

The later pictures are of a B-57, and I'm pretty sure it is a B-57F. The
B-57D looks similar, but I *think* all of them have been retired.

All of the images on my page are of the same aircraft taken
the same day. Some of them were taken with the plane at a
distance so the perspective is much different than looking
straight up at its belly.

Take a look at this NASA webpage, which has a picture of an
ER-2. It matches what I observed.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/r...R-2/index.html

The Canberra's wings are much more triangular.

Plus, my photogrammatic analysis puts the plane at around 70,000
feet.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"BTIZ" wrote in news:FZV0g.7331$Qz.3272
@fed1read11:

hmmm.... maybe so.. thanx
BT

Just so you know, BT, I have determined that the plane is in fact
a WB-57. My original doubt was due not knowing of the planes existence,
and that the images and drawings on the Wikipedia source that I
checked do not show the longer wingspan version.

But, upon seeing images of the plane on NASA's webpage about the
WB-57 program, I had to change my mind. BTW, I have placed an image
from the NASA website at the end of my page for comparison.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote

But, upon seeing images of the plane on NASA's webpage about the
WB-57 program, I had to change my mind. BTW, I have placed an image
from the NASA website at the end of my page for comparison.

If you have a place for me to send them, I have a couple pictures taken at
OSH a few years back. They might be interesting, because they have people
walking around looking at them, for a feeling of scale.
--
Jim in NC

".Blueskies." wrote in news:SdU0g.70349
:


"Skywise" wrote in message news:1245n0dkkfsst01
@corp.supernews.com...
I had made passing mention recently about spotting a U2 aircraft
cruising around southern California. Well, this past week I
managed to get some good photographs of it and have put up a
webpage about it. Turned out to be a NASA ER-2.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/ER2/ER2.html

Brian
--


So...how do you hook up your camera to the telescope?

Here's a link to a commercial device. I made my own.

http://www.telescope.com/shopping/pr....jsp?itemID=65
&itemType=PRODUCT&RS=1&keyword=05228

In case you don't want to unwrap it....

http://tinyurl.com/pkhv5

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Morgans" wrote in news:qvY0g.273$wh.32
@fe03.lga:


"Skywise" wrote

But, upon seeing images of the plane on NASA's webpage about the
WB-57 program, I had to change my mind. BTW, I have placed an image
from the NASA website at the end of my page for comparison.

If you have a place for me to send them, I have a couple pictures taken at
OSH a few years back. They might be interesting, because they have people
walking around looking at them, for a feeling of scale.

I'd be glad to put them in with my photos.

My email address is on my website. Or, if you want to play break
the code..... "skywise" at (the name of my website).

Let me know how you want them credited and include any descriptions
you may have.

In all my years of interest in aviation I'm embarrassed that I
never knew of this plane. Sheesh....

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

As an update to my WB-57 story, I just discovered the flight
track on FlightAware.com. Turns out it was tail number NASA926,
and have added the flight track image to my webpage. Also, the
page name has changed, although the previous one has a link
to the correct one.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/WB57/WB57.html

So, why didn't anyone suggest this to me earlier? Why didn't
*I* think of it? BTW, I see they flew today around the Las Vegas
area. They're currently flying out of Miramar.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

"Skywise" wrote

As an update to my WB-57 story, I just discovered the flight
track on FlightAware.com. Turns out it was tail number NASA926,
and have added the flight track image to my webpage. Also, the
page name has changed, although the previous one has a link
to the correct one.

http://www.skywise711.com/misc/WB57/WB57.html

After looking at the track, it looks like they sure did nail the saight line
portion of the flight plan. All of the tracks are superimposed on top of
each other, so accurately, that they look like one line. Interesting. I
wonder what they are testing.

I took some pictures of that plane, while it was at OSH a few years back.
It is not apparent in your photos how huge the wing span is, or who big of
an aspect ratio it has. It really does look like a sailplane, when you see
it, in person.
--
Jim in NC