What’s The Story Behind This Pic?
Thu, Jul 24, 2008
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Courtesy of the US Navy comes this amazing image. We have no idea what the story is behind it, so we are asking you to come up with an explanation.
If your guess is good enough or weird enough, our friends over at Neatorama will give you a free T-Shirt of your choice and we’ll post your comment as a blogpost in its own right!
All you have to do is drop a guess in the comments section with your name and email. We’ll then contact you if you win. Enjoy! (Emails will not be published).
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July 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Its a jet breaking the super-sonic barrier. It was taken by another pilot who had experience fly at super-sonic speeds, and new how to time the photo just right. When the plane is traveling the same speed as sound, it creates a pocket of depressurization, and water converts instantly into vapor, as seen here. Also with this depressurization come the loud sonic boom, which travels outward and behind it like a cone. Hope that clears it up!
July 24th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
It’s what a sonic boom looks like: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010221.html
July 24th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Uh, that is a picture of a plane breaking the sound barrier. Are you guys new here? These pics have been around for years. Try to keep up. Where’s my t-shirt?
July 24th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
http://wilk4.com/misc/soundbreak.htm
quoting the site:
“Here are some fascinating (for some people anyway) photos and videos of interesting condensation clouds that form around jets as they fly at or near the speed of sound, (often called “going through the sound barrier” or “accelerating past the speed of sound”). Under the right conditions, and even at lower speeds, they sometimes cause a vapor cone effect.
Understand that these Prandtl-Glauert condensation clouds can also occur at lower speeds, and are not really a visible manifestation of some kind of a sound barrier being broken.
The pics not mine. They were passed around via email and I’ve put together quite a bit of info I’ve found or been sent about each. Enjoy! — jeff”
July 24th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Sonic boom
From Wiki:
“When an object passes through the air, it creates a series of pressure waves in front of it and behind it, similar to the bow and stern waves created by a boat. These waves travel at the speed of sound, and as the speed of the object increases, the waves are forced together, or compressed, because they cannot “get out of the way” of each other, eventually merging into a single shock wave at the speed of sound. This critical speed is known as Mach 1 and is approximately 1,225 kilometers per hour (761 mph) at sea level.
In smooth flight, the shock wave starts at the nose of the aircraft and ends at the tail. There is a sudden rise in pressure at the nose, decreasing steadily to a negative pressure at the tail, whereas after the object passes, the pressure eventually returns to normal. This “overpressure profile” is known as the N-wave because of its shape. The “boom” is experienced when there is a sudden rise in pressure, so the N-wave causes two booms, one when the initial pressure rise from the nose hits, and another when the tail passes and the pressure suddenly returns to normal. This leads to a distinctive “double boom” from supersonic aircraft. When maneuvering, the pressure distribution changes into different forms, with a characteristic U-wave shape. Since the boom is being generated continually as long as the aircraft is supersonic, it traces out a path on the ground following the aircraft’s flight path, known as the boom forest.”
July 24th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I’ve seen this picture before. It captures the breaking of the sound barrier.
And a quick Google search find this Wikipedia article on the sound barrier, which contains this exact picture containing the following caption:
July 24th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Easy!
It’s breaking the sound barrier.
The wind off the nose is so fast that it slams in the wind off the wings. Sonic boom!
July 24th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
This photograph depicts a plane breaking the sound barrier, also known as sonic boom. By writing “breaking the sound barrier” we mean crossing the local speed of sound in air, Vs, or reaching supersonic speed.
Vs = (331.4 + 0.6 * Tc) meters/second
where Tc is local temperature in degree Celsius.
When a plane flies, it creates a series of pressure waves in front of it and behind it. These waves travel at the local speed of sound, and as the speed of the plane increases, the waves are forced together, or compressed. Now as they cannot “get out of the way” of each other and thus eventually merging into a single shock wave at the local speed of sound.
One of the extraordinary sights associated with this supersonic transition is the production of a sudden visible vapor cloud around the aircraft.
In this phenomenon, this shock wave amplifies all pressure perturbations, leading to some regions of anomalously high and low pressure. If the associated volumes cannot quickly change, then the ideal gas law suggests that the temperature in the low pressure regions must drop, leading to condensation of the water vapor present around the body of plane.
Sometimes this phenomenon is also observed in planes flying at subsonic speeds. (eg. B-2 Spirit bomber)
July 24th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I’m not sure what you’re looking for beyond it’s a jet fighter breaking the sound barrier. The cloud is formed by the shock wave as the airflow goes supersonic.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Thats the new security thingy from USA against terror: emissions. If im not totally wrong the guys is still up there!
July 24th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
When an airplane flies through humid air, a cloud will form around it just as it approaches the sound barrier. The planes speed changes alters the temperature and pressure of the surrounding air, causing the moisture in the air to condense suddenly. Incidentally, you can see this cloud phenomenon on the Concorde as it takes off. See a picture of this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde
I have heard that this phenomenon can appear around a jet at lower than sonic speeds under the right conditions of temperature and humidity, even if the jet stays below the sound barrier and does not break it.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
It’s an F/A-18 Hornet breaking the sound barrier. The “cloud” at the back is known as a halo — it is in fact simply a cloud, the result of water condensation.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
It’s a jet breaking the sound barrier, right?
Alternately:
The screams of the long-dead organisms comprising the fossil fuel that the jet is burning, captured through the Air Force’s new Spectro-Ray.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
IIRC this was the first time a supersonic boom was captured on photograph. The cloud is a “vapor cone” and not a “real cloud” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prandtl-Glauert_singularity
And the story, well wikipedia says:
Off the coast of Pusan, South Korea: An F/A-18 Hornet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron One Five One (VFA-151) breaks the sound barrier in the skies over the Pacific Ocean. VFA-151 is deployed aboard USS Constellation (CVN 64). The image was an Astronomy Picture of the Day on August 19, 2007.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Hi
The aircraft is in the process of braking the sound barrier.The clouds are from compressing the air around the aircraft.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
The plane just broke the sound barrier. The change in pressure caused condenses the water in the air at face of the pressure wave.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Fighter jet in air ballet dons a supersonic shockwave tutu.
July 24th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
F18 breaking the sound barrier
July 24th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
After extensive testing for alternative fuels, the US Navy finally made it’s decision - baked beans. Chosen for their explosive side effects, the baked beans are lowering the Navy’s emissions, while replacing the need for afterburners. Al Gore would be proud!
July 24th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010221.html
July 24th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
It is water vapor in the air condensing upon hitting the sonic barrier created by the transition between subsonic and supersonic speeds on the jet. This happens often in high humidity environments and when such jets pass through cloud formations.
The shock cone typically moves across the body of the plane, and technically, this plane can be described as being in transonic flight since the entire vehicle as of yet has not transitioned to supersonic airflow around it. This is a time of high stresses upon the plane’s structure, though thermal stresses are not yet a design concern at the speed represented in this picture.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
This picture is of a jet plane breaking through the sound barrier.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:37 am
Umm…isn’t it obvious? It’s a physical representation of hatred, shooting towards the Earth from out of God’s cataracted eye…duh…sonic boom…as if… ;-)
July 25th, 2008 at 8:12 am
SONIC BOOM!
July 25th, 2008 at 8:34 am
“It’s the spontaneous birth of an aircraft” as seen through the eyes of an eagle and told to its offspring. The eagle tells its young its a particular species of bird, one that can fly faster than any other bird of its kind.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:58 am
The birth of the Great Metal Hornet from the Unbreaking Egg.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:45 am
The plane is breaking the sound barrier.
This creates an area of very low pressure behind the conical soundwaves.
In humid areas, moisture will condense in areas of low pressure momentarily as the jet passes through it.
This creates these “clouds” of moisture around the jet.
And that’s all there is to it.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
As it’s been said before, the cone-shaped cloud is known as a “Prandtl-Glauert Singularity.” I don’t really have much more information, but I do have a lot more really cool photos of the phenomenon:
Blue Angel only 20′ in air: http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-20061112i-UnitedStatesNavy-051009-N-7559C-001-large.jpg
Space Shuttle Launch: http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-20040817k-processed-STS-106-NASA-KSC-00PP-1416.jpg
Saturn V Launch with flag: http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/MEDIUM/GPN-2000-000627.jpg
July 25th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
It’s the Doc and Marty’s upgrade to the Delorean returning from a trip back to November of 2000 in which they bitch slapped everyone who voted for Bush. I’m sure we’ll see them again in November 2008.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I agree to what james has said on the top due to air moisture and pressure when it is condensed with the blow exiting from the jet that has made to look like a cloud just like a real cloud.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
This is a picture of a F18 Hornet…in a tutu. Duh, haven’t you ever seen such a thing before???
July 26th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
It is a picture of an F18 Hornet coming back from m22587 through Nasa’s “real” stargate.
August 6th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
This plane is breaking the sound barrier. The clouds only occur in unique weather conditions, when aircraft fly fast enough to cool the air around them, causing moisture in the air to condense into clouds. These halos of vapor appear for only a few seconds when aircraft reach speeds just below or just above the speed of sound (741 miles an hour/1,193 kilometers an hour).
August 7th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
It’s a jet breaking the sonic barrier.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
It is the very moment that an aircraft breaks the sound barrier…more commonly known as the sonic boom…a puncture through sound itself which lends credence to observations made by Dr. Albert Einstein that everything, you, me, the universe are all swimming through the cohesive fabric…this very fabric allows the planest to orbit in a constant path, and allows us to live our merry lives on earth…seeing as how we need to breath and we need the atmospheric protection the planet provides us… the alternative is floating off into space or burning to a crisp…or both, which I am told is very uncomfortable.
This fabric works similarly for sound…holds it in place…which is why the motto goes that “in space, no one can hear you scream”…
The sonic boom is a puncture in this fabric of sound…the result causes sound as we know it to act all weird…there are some debates whether or not this practice should be condoned…some fear that a hole in the fabric of sound never actually heals…causing sound to spill into other facets of space and time…and the bees to disappear…and our minds never capable of attaining full enlightenment…as a result food supplies all over the world suffer, and we are less and less able to relate to ourselves to all life…we become more detached, materialistic, immoral and susceptible to buying the latest apple product, regardless our means to afford it…especially during this time of economic uncertainty, higher gas prices, global warming, global cooling, reality TV and terrible direct to DVD sequels to beloved walt disney characters.
August 15th, 2008 at 4:56 am
The jet has obviously become quite close to one of the male jets: she’s laying an egg!
August 16th, 2008 at 5:29 am
No no, you are all totally wrong. The big white thing is in fact an enemy space-ship from the planet Wobblegog masquerading as a cloud (Note that the cloud does not really look like the naturally occuring clouds we get here on earth …the Wobblegogians aren’t really that bright if I’m on honest…). In this picture we see the cloud deploying what, to the untrained eye, appears to be a US fighter jet. But alas! You have been fooled again! It is in fact the Wobblegog attack vehicle, masquerading as a US jet (Note that the engineers designing the attack vehicle were somewhat more intelligent than those assigned to the main ship…)
Thankfully, soon after the deployment of the attack vehicle, one environmental graffiti artist was stupid enough to post a picture of the event on his website, saying he had no idea what was happening in the photo, and asked people to come up with ideas. The wobblegogians read the site, and were so suprised that the person, named “Chris”, had failed to recognize that the picture was of a FIGHTER JET BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER that they felt sorry for him, and returned to the planet Wobblegog to allow the earthling some time to become a bit more intelligent before they returned to completely destroy his planet, and all forms of life that inhabit it.
So, to “Captain Obvious” and all the others around here that are having a dig at Chris for being so STUPID, maybe you could give him some credit seeing as he’s just inadvertantly saved the world from total annihilation…
September 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am
This is a picture of a supersonic jet breaking the sound barrier.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
US Air Force are now able to tow rain - clouds to drought areas!
May 29th, 2009 at 1:10 am
This is what’s called “vapor cone” which can appear at transonic speeds of 0.8 mach / 1.2 mach.
The speed of sound is not always consistent. Temperature, Atmospheric pressure, even humidity play a big role in the speed of sound. although there may have been no “sonic boom” doesn’t mean the plane hadn’t already hit sonic speeds.
A vapor cone can be formed without hitting mach 1, but when it occurs like in this picture of even on thiese pictures below, it ussually happens when the fighter/plane is flirting with mach 1.
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Miramar/2008/Highlights/F18Cone08.jpg
May 29th, 2009 at 5:45 am
The picture is of an F-14 or F-15 the instant it’s going through the sound barrier
May 29th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
It’s an actual photo of a jet breaking the sound barrier. The ” cloud ” is the air disruption that supplies the “BooM”
May 30th, 2009 at 12:47 am
The photo of jet with weird cloud around it is what it looks like when breaks sound barrier. You hear a loud boom and see this cloud/ring.. it’s the real deal
May 30th, 2009 at 3:42 am
This photograph of a rogue cloud attacking a U.S. fighter jet was produced by George Tenet’s CIA at the behest of Vice President Cheney in the Fall of 2003. Cheney had “requested” that the CIA “find” evidence to support his contention that North Korea’s weather control program was being developed for other than peaceful agricultural purposes. This picture was to be used as a pretext to “bring democracy” to North Korea, but when Iraqi’s inexplicably shot back, the plan was shelved.
President Obama had initially promised to release the photo, as “transparency” demanded it. After Dick Cheney explained his view that releasing the photos would be nothing short of “treason from a person who clearly doesn’t value the security of this country,” Obama’s Press Secretary stated that the photo would not be released, as it might put U.S. troops on the DMZ at increased risk. Dick Cheney then successfully sued for the photo’s release.
May 30th, 2009 at 4:45 am
It’s a picture of a jet breaking the sound barrier.
May 30th, 2009 at 6:47 am
Contrary to popular opinion, Lockheed Martin ‘hatches’ their fighter jets from giant airborne eggs…as can seen in the picture. Just out of frame, a giant, but slightly confused, chicken sits watching the birth of her new progeny.
May 30th, 2009 at 11:13 am
the speed of plane crossed the speed of sound
May 30th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
The photo depicts a plane breaking the sound barrier.
May 30th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
It is the aircraft going thru the Sound Barrier. topcop
May 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
The jet is breaking the sound barrier.
May 30th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
The pilot farted.
OR
Was smoking some drugs, and decided to let out some of the smoke.
May 30th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Sound barrier broken. Shock causes condensation thus the cloud or mist engulfing the jet aircraft. .
May 30th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
This is a plane that is breaking a sound barrier. Probably Mach 5 or 7.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:02 am
The F18 is breaking the sound barrier. I was flying low lever above the water where the evaporating water was providing a high level of humidity. At the moment the plane exceed the speed of sound water vapor was flashed into the air, as well as a sonic boom being heard by anyone close by.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:36 am
The fighter is breaking the sound barrier — i.e. exceeding the speed of sound, which causes the shock wave around it.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:57 am
It’s a Navy’s F/A18 breaking the sound barrier
May 31st, 2009 at 2:32 am
The photo is of a US Navy F/A-18C breaking the sound barrier. The unique “cloud” formed around the aircraft is caused by the change in pressure as the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound which causes the condensation of the moisture in the air surrounding the aircraft. More about this particular photograph can be found at:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/Acoustics/Soundbarrier/breakingsound/f18.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Sciences/Physics/Acoustics/Soundbarrier/breakingsound/breakingsound.htm&h=367&w=512&sz=10&tbnid=9uG0JpcKWdKNHM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=131&prev=/images%3Fq%3Df/a%2B18&usg=__LTC8p6golkWuOtehoFhNGTo0rhI=&ei=XtwhSvCdGKCWtgPi6q2HBA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image
May 31st, 2009 at 4:02 am
The story on this F-15, I believe, is that it is breaking the sound barrier. The cloud is the effect of a sonic boom, supposedly. This IS the story of the pic as I have known that picture since I was in high school 15 years ago. I could be wrong on the type of aircraft. F15 F16 ????? Who knows…
May 31st, 2009 at 5:47 am
This is not a photo of a plane breaking the sound barrier. Jets routinely create a vapor cloud at subsonic speed if the atmospherics are right. Sufficent moisture is required and the air pressure from the jet will jam it into a doughnut cloud. Does not happen in hot dry air.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
The picture is of a jet making a transition form supersonic to subsonic travel. The pressure wave of the transition causes water vapor to condence and form into a cloud. The secondary wave just behind the pilot is caused by a low pressure zone and uneven air flow at that point. Or it could be an FA-18 super hornet as it breaks out of its egg.
May 31st, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I studied about this during high school. Basically the plane has reached super sonic speeds thus forming vapour. Another example is in the movie iron man, notice how vapour instantly forms when he goes super-sonic.
May 31st, 2009 at 3:20 pm
It’s a picture of a Navy jet breaking the sound barrier over the Pacific Ocean while flying at an altitude of 75 FEET(!).
http://www-paoc.mit.edu/labweb/gfd_i.htm
May 31st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
breaking the sound barrier
June 1st, 2009 at 2:10 am
The Jet is breaking the sound barrier.
June 1st, 2009 at 1:36 pm
This pic was taken when the plane broke the MACH1 speed barrier ( travelled faster than sound.
I hope so.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I am very familiar with this photo because I was involved in the top secret program that it is part of. The story of a plane breaking the sound barrier is just a cover story. The truth is it returning from a time travel trip into past. This was for a government program designed to manipulate the past to change the circumstances of the present. It really is a big government conspiracy. The give away is the small shock wave over the cockpit. This does not happen when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier only when it breaks the time barrier.
I can’t tell you what was changed in the past because now it never happened, so you wouldn’t believe me anyway. If I disappear now it will be because someone went back in time and changed my life and this email was never sent.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Are russians really so stupid they dont know what the sound barrier is?
LOL
June 1st, 2009 at 4:41 pm
The pilot had Mexican food for lunch.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:54 pm
You are seeing a classified picture of project “Spot On” showing an attack fighter emerging from a “strike hole” which is actually the terminus of a terrestrial worm hole, this is also commonly referred to as quantum teleportation. Ice crystals form at the mouth of the event horizon (of the worm hole), giving it a cloud like appearance, due to the instantaneous exposure of water vapor in the atmosphere to the cold vacuum of space which all worm holes must pass through regardless of their origin and terminus.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:29 pm
obviously its a space-alien captured jet towing a cloud somewhere for shade. duh.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Haven’t you guys realized? Man what has this pilot eaten. That’s a fart! period. ;-)
June 1st, 2009 at 9:09 pm
What you see in the picture that looks like a plane flying though a cloud is actually the effect of the jet braking the sound barrier.
The effect is caused when the air and water molecules surrounding the plane are compressed at a very high rate of speed such that it forms that cloud-like shape around it.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
What came first: the jet or the egg?
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
THis is a photo of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier. The vapor is produced by compression of air when breaking the barrier.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
This is not a picture of an F-18 breaking the sound barrier.
This picture was taken on a humid day. The aircraft creates a shockwave as it moves through the air. Immediately behind the shockwave the atmospheric pressure is slightly decreased. The decrease in pressure results in the moisture in the air condensing into little droplets or “fog”. After the aircraft has passed the pressure returns to normal and the droplets evaporate.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:20 pm
It’s a fighter jet breaking the sound barrier[going faster than the speed of sound]
I think the cloud around the back of it is going to be moisture in the air.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Obama’s idea for an eco-friendly Wind Power Aircraft
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
This is a picture of a F-18 hornet about to break the sound barrier.
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
It is the star gate
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:49 am
This is the last plane to drop out of a superchasmatic worm hole which is used for rapid deployment of anti-Alien response team.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am
This is a jet breaking the sound barrier.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
its a fake someone photo shopped it duhh
June 7th, 2009 at 11:53 am
It’s the jet breaking the sound barrier, i don’t remember the exact reason why it builds up condensation like that though.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Apparently this is a picture of a plane crashing through the sound barrier. When the humidity is just right it will create a fog as the shock wave hits it. Although it could be just a plane arriving through a time portal. (see Dr. Quantum or Brian Greene for explanation)
June 9th, 2009 at 2:27 am
It is breaking the sound barrier and that is a snapshot of the high pressure region meeting the low pressure region as the plane progresses to supersonic flight.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Well, it’s nothing that needs guessing. It’s a fighter breaking the sound barrier with a nicely timed pic of it exiting the condensation disc caused by the pressure wave that physically becomes a sonic boom.
However you said you wanted a guess so here goes…
Some time in the future a man finds that after inventing a time machine, he wants to be able to materialize without ending up inside of anything like a wall or a car etc. After cogitating this a bit it seems most plausible that by moving through the air when he flips the switch, there’ll be an infinitesimal chance of his materializing inside of anything.
He finds/buys an antique fighter plane and installs his time machine into the fuselage and takes off for the past.
A tourist, taking pictures of sea gulls was serendipitously snapping a shot at exactly the right place when the man from the future is popping out of his trans-dimensional portal.
How was that?
June 10th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
This is a picture of a Prandtl-Glauert condensation cloud. It is caused by the intense condensation created by the compressed airflow around the plane. It can happen at speeds below the sound barrier, however this picture could be at the moment just before or after the sound barrier is actually broken. It normally lasts for a fraction of a second, depending on the speed and angle of attack of the plane. It appears most often when there is high compression and high humidity. It also appears commonly about 25 seconds after the launch of the Space Shuttle.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
ummmm the plane clearly has a large mentos stuck to it’s ass
June 11th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
Gosh! 88 MPH…
June 16th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
This is the sound barrier
This happens when the aircraft breake the speed of sound at MAC1, MAC2 and MAC3
hope this explain to you
any further information , please email me and feel free.
Best wishes
June 18th, 2009 at 6:49 am
reuse reduce recycle
environmentally friendly recycled F16 soft killer cotton balls
so smooth
won’t hear it , feel it nor see it
June 24th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Breaking the sound barrier . vapor cones around the jets
June 29th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
I think Stewie from the “Family Guy” is actually flying this jet and he farted. Thus causing the instant vaporization of water thus producing this awesome effect.
June 30th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
this is a photo of the jet breaking the sound barrier - going Mach 1.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 am
It’s an F/A-18 going through the Prandtl-Glauert singularity. It’s the sharp condensation of vapor that surrounds an object that pass the speed of sound.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I’ve seen this before…it’s a Sonic Boom…cool, huh?
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
This is a picture of an f-14 Tomcat captured at the exact moment it is breaking the sound barrier. The white cones are water vapor rendered visible by the sonic boom around the aircraft.
July 4th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Uhmm its obviously a plane coming out of a worm hole.
July 6th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Contrary to popular belief, this “cloud” formation has absolutely nothing to do with breaking the sound barrier. It has everything to do with temperature and dew point. Contact your local weatherman for an explanation of dew point. As the aircraft moves through the air, the local air pressure rises as the aircraft pushes it out of the way. The local pressure drops back to ambient pressure as the aircraft passes. However, sometimes with some aircraft, the pressure drops below ambient pressure as it passes, for a very short time, due to the shape and speed of the aircraft. When this happens, the local temperature drops and reaches the dew point of the local air causing a condensation cloud. The cloud evaporates as the pressure rises back to ambient. This is the same mechanism which causes lenticular clouds to form over large mountains. These clouds have been photographed several times over Mt fuji and Mt Rainier.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Clear case of a break through the sound barrier. Sorry, no bubbles.
July 15th, 2009 at 6:50 am
This phenomenon is very common with military jets. The F-18 in the picture actually made this flight 10 years ago. The picture was taken only 10 weeks ago. What you’re seeing is the jet re-entering 2009 from 1999. And it takes place at a much lower speed–a mere 88 mph–than what some know-it-alls would have you believe. Had this picture been taken at ground level, fire trails would have been left on the runway as additional evidence.