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A comment on Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps. Parent comment

Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by oppositelock on Monday December 20, 2021 @08:55PM (#29632912)
You can get height if you can find the shadow, and find the time that the photo was taken, because at any given time and date, you can compute sun position, and you know the precise lat/lng of the shadow. The shadow would need to be in the same photo, though. (actually, it's a bit to the northwest, just found it).

If you can find a vertical structure, like an antenna mast, you can measure shadow length and direction and if you know the height of the antenna, you have enough information for some trigonometry.

Speed is harder. You'd need to know the difference between exposures.

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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by ryan_j_naughton on Monday December 20, 2021 @11:29PM (#29633887)
For those interested, here is the shadow: https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B001'28.8%22N+93%C2%...

Took me a while to find it, so thought I'd save someone else the scrolling/search cost.

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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by rob74 on Tuesday December 21, 2021 @04:44AM (#29635697)
Thanks! It's conveniently hidden by a grassy area and some trees which throw shadows of their own. Actually, I should be doing something more useful at the moment...
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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by oppositelock on Monday December 20, 2021 @09:11PM (#29633008)
Aha! Here we go. Here's a telephone pole: https://earth.google.com/web/search/39.0303298,-93.58495/@39...

We know that telephone poles stick about 32 feet from the ground. Measuring the shadow in Google Earth above, it's about 20 feet. Now, it's a simple ratio.

Using Earth, I measured the distance from the plane to its shadow at about 2430 feet, that would put it at 3,900ft, which is surprisingly low, but I don't know the height of that pole for sure. It's the right ballpark, though.

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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by abrowne on Monday December 20, 2021 @09:26PM (#29633107)
Not too low if landing? From another comment:

> This one was probably on final approach during the summer when the winds are usually out of the south and was probably about 2,000 feet above the ground.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29628167

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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by rookderby on Tuesday December 21, 2021 @09:56AM (#29637940)
Probably headed to Whiteman AFB. Here's one parked: https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B043'29.7%22N+93%C2%...
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Re:Stealth bomber in flight on Google Maps by mountainofdeath on Tuesday December 21, 2021 @12:01PM (#29639358)
The B2 is based out of Whiteman AFB near Warrensburg, MO so roughly 25 miles or 40 km south of where the plane is so it is probably on its final approach to land or just took off.
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