There’s some talk that perhaps, just perhaps, a unidentified missile was launched off the California coast on November 8th.
It wasn’t a missile. It was a jet contrail, viewed from an angle. There’s a fine website about contrails, contrailcience.com, with an overflow site that establishes — conclusively — that the supposed missile was a contrail viewed from an angle. See, “Jet contrails from some angles look like missile trails.”
CBS News even ran a story about the supposed missile, with lots of speculation. Lots and lots.
Here’s the local CBS story:
Link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/09/national/main7036716.shtml
It’s not a missile, and not a “possible show of U.S. military might.” We’re a powerful nation, but there’s no national display at work here. It’s a natural atmospheric display, of the traces of an impressive, but conventional, jet airliner. Commercial jets are considerable accomplishments in their own right, but they’re commonplace, too.
We’re foolish to jump to wild conclusions when a reasonable — and in this case, definitive (but mundane) — explanation is available.