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A comment on Fireball over US, Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57. Parent comment

Re:Fireball over US, Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57 by evrydayhustling on Wednesday April 17, 2019 @05:41PM (#19686717)
Does anyone know if an ICBM would be this bright? I'd expect that towards the end of the trajectory it might not even need its torch, so the first light would be payload.
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Re:Fireball over US, Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57 by mlindner on Wednesday April 17, 2019 @09:11PM (#19687879)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WagAKBuc_o

Yes they're quite bright but more consistent in their brightness, but any ICBM is going to detonate quite a lot higher.

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Re:Fireball over US, Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57 by evrydayhustling on Thursday April 18, 2019 @12:21PM (#19692292)
Wow - almost identical video with actual ICBM to compare. Thanks!!

Also: why is it still bright? Don't understand why it would still be firing at that point. Is it burning?

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Re:Fireball over US, Wednesday, April 17th 2019 around 02:57 by mlindner on Friday April 26, 2019 @05:55PM (#19762110)
The part where it's leaving a trail is material ablating (vaporizing) off the outside of the re-entry vehicle. It's still bright after that because it's still traveling at mach 5-6 or so (very dense pointed entry vehicle that doesn't lose speed), so it maintains a superheated state where the surface is glowing white hot.
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