4 ms·
I don't think even modern day smartphones are fast enough to capture objects traveling at hypersonic speeds. Just a guess, I may be wrong here.
by godelmachine 9y ago
I don't think even modern day smartphones are fast enough to capture objects traveling at hypersonic speeds. Just a guess, I may be wrong here.
- Retric 9y agoDistance makes speed irrelevant. The moon is traveling 1km every second but that's hard to directly notice. If you every watched a jet moving at ~600mph then I think we can agree something going 10 times as fast would still be easy to notice.
- maxerickson 9y agoPossible to capture if you noticed it anyway. Jets cross out of view in a couple minutes and are big (and probably flying lower). So a little thing in ~20 seconds.
- Retric 9y agoIf it's tiny, dark, and distant then it's hard to see even if stationary. Thus the real issue would not be speed.
- maxerickson 9y agoYeah, I was agreeing with that part of you comment and quibbling over "easy to notice". Even with the tiny size the speed is still a big factor because the opportunity to sight the object from a given location will be pretty short.
- SEJeff 9y agoTake something like an SR-71 blackbird... It flew subsonic until it was often near the edge of space. If it was vaguely near takeoff or landing, it would be possible to see with the naked eye. If you're a fan of the SR-71, this hilarious interview with pilot Brian Shul is definitely worth watching: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmyAvRKDvJk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmyAvRKDvJk
- maxxxxx 9y agoThey are able to capture rocket launches so it should be OK. A hypersonic plane will be very high altitude so it won't move across the sky that fast. The ISS needs several minutes to cross the sky.
- akhatri_aus 9y agoIt's not going to be hypersonic 100m from the earth's surface, or it'll burn up. So it wont be because of speed i'tll just be too far away.