Photographer Captures Amazing Time-Lapse Video Of Trident Ballistic Missile Launch

Tyler Durden's picture

Earlier today, we reported that just after 9pm local time on Saturday evening, a dramatic white light lit up not only all of California, but stretches of Arizona and Nevada, in what was subsequently revealed to be an unannounced launch of a Trident II (D5) missile from the Kentucky, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine situated off Point Mugu. But while the entire internet was throttled under the weight of millions of snapshots and short underexposed clips of the missile flight being uploaded to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, one person captured the whole event in its dramatic entirety on time-lapse photography.

That person was Justin Majeczky, who was conducting time-lapse photography above the Golden Gate bridge, when he noticed an unexpected object in his viewfinder: an ICBM.

The result, first noted by Foxtrot Alpha, is 3 minutes of breathtaking imagery that not only catches the missile emerging from the horzion following its submarine launch, but disappearing far off into the sky on its long voyage to the Marshall Islands.

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db51's picture

Things are getting weird

 

OldPhart's picture

Daytime launches from Vandenburg are awesome to see.  But typically the contrail gets twistd by the winds.  What was unusual about this launch was that the contrail didn't get twisted, but seemed to stay in alinement with the missle.  The fan of light was the give-away that it was some sort of rocket powered missle.  What type wasn't known to me, and local reports said it had been launched from Edwards AFB.  Edwards, to my knowledge, has never launched anything like this, but that's what was being reported after about twenty minutes.

Wahooo's picture

Rocket powered as opposed to what exactly?

Ignatius's picture

When do the Marshall Islands (likely not the native appellation) finally rise up and say,

"Enough, already?"

Automatic Choke's picture

I was camped in Death Valley with a few friends, with no radio or internet.  It lit up the whole western sky for about 5-10 minutes.  We were speculating either a launch from Vandenbug, or that LA got nuked.  Bets were placed.

 

macholatte's picture

 

This “Test” is a bizarre event much like the entire Obama Presidency.

There is no good reason to do it off the coast of LA.   None.
If the MIC wanted to impress the Ruskies & the Chinks & the Koreans & everyone else then they would shoot it off from the end of the Aleutian Islands and let is travel south on its way to the Marshall Islands about 500 miles east of the coast of Japan.

This is probably just another fuck-up.

 

Bastiat's picture

OK so the US gets into a hostile confrontation with a nuclear power, it's in a tough spot, so launches a nuke at itself? 

I can only think of this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_JOGmXpe5I

Four chan's picture

its obama that means ts a fuck up.

Tarzan's picture

So this was fired from off the coast of LA toward the east and flew to the Marshal Islands, which are in the Pacific, west of LA?

It flew around the world, back to the Pacific?

Fucked up indeed.

I must be missing something here....

Surviver22's picture
Surviver22 (not verified) Tarzan Nov 9, 2015 6:28 AM

First off… If you care about your safety, stop what you're doing right now and watch this short independent documentary!

http://motivationdose.com/is-america-babylon/

old naughty's picture

 

So, firing from a ‘mobile base’ off LA to half-way between Hawaii and Australia, approximate scale of Europe (not exposing where are they on land)…

 

“Yes, we can…….(Vlad, I am just showing off to my own sheeples)!”

 

Chess moves.

DeadFred's picture

The reports on where it launched from and where it was going are all over the board. I suspect disinformation since a sublaunch from Edwards is impossible, the sidewinders will confirm that. The video in this one definiting shows a westward path over the Pacific. Probably the sub launch is correct as well. It's not that far from the Marshalls to the Spratleys, I wonder if they'll 'miss' on one of these like when they 'missed' and hit the Chinese embassy when they bombed Serbia.

Tarzan's picture

If it was fired from the USS Kentucky and then flew over LA it had to be going east, not west. 

I have to wonder If ZH is right, that the target was the Marshal Islands?  The marshal Islands are east of Australia in the Pacific. 

If so then it would have traveled nearly a full trip around the globe and over many other countries.

It would be interesting to know where it landed, if it did, and how long it took to get there.

I suspect this is no different then North Korea rattling it's sabre with it's politically timed missile launches, except one fact, their missile didn't actually fly over other countries.....

Obama and Kim appear to be two peas in a pod, as do their military's.  Both are desperate and blinded by out of control arrogance toward the rest of the world.

InanimateCarbonRod's picture

Camera is shooting from the north side of the bridge, so you're looking south/south west. Missile is moving left to right, or west to east. Point Mugu is south of SF. Hopefully they hit what they were aiming at...

de3de8's picture

Just a really big game of " who's is bigger"

hawk nation's picture

Maybe the security was hacked and it was launched as a warnimg by russia and china for the ussa to back off

Sanity Bear's picture

Remember the Chinese sub that surfaced off the west coast (and IIRC fired a test missile) a while back?

A Nanny Moose's picture

Dammit. There's nice little brewery on 395 overlooking Inyokern. Would have had a great view if that were the case.

Musical Interlude...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p31VFxkKkA4

Lore's picture

It never made it to the Marshall Islands. It broke up and crashed in Iran.

gladius17's picture
gladius17 (not verified) Wahooo Nov 9, 2015 12:21 AM

I heard they developed some hipster powered missiles at Area 51. It's an abundant fuel, much cheaper than solid propellant, though not necessarily less dangerous.

Gilster's picture

It's a single-speed retro V2 complete with hand-crafted obscure warhead

omniversling's picture

Callin BS on a missile. Search Trident Launch. It's NOTHING like that. More likely HAARP2.0/Bluebeam, CERN or Secret Space Program. Plenty of craziness to come, whatever it was...

The Norway spiral

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80__LLZK4zg

Strange Lights:

Floridahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeZpXhDK8f0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCrZhK3Tl-I

Indiana: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/28525732/alien-like-light-stirs-deba...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AS8n_q0lyo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87PRVP4EQAo

BlueBeam:

UFO over Jerusalem - PROJECT BLUEBEAM - High Tech Deception (1/2)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7ZitlrRLgs

dreadnaught's picture

about the 'Norway Spiral'----which was claimed to be 'just a missile test'. 

Bullshit-they have tested missiles and rockets there for 40 years,

and NOTHING like that spiral has been seen before or since

and people shrug their shoulders and say, "oh-ok"

Paveway IV's picture

They generally avoid doing classified ballistic missile tests right after sunset or before sunrise specifically so you can't see any details or timing of the final boost stage jettison and post-boost vehicle deployment. Unclassified rocket lifts (mil or otherwise) are not that much of an issue, but you need perfectly clear skies above you and all the way to the horizon so the sun can illuminate the post-boost rocket plume. If you had those conditions, you would see the motor plume (cone) from the post-boost vehicle. It's beyond the mesosphere - there's no atmosphere to keep the burnt rocket engine exhaust from expanding continuously. This is some kind of nasty hydrazine/nitrogen rocket. Regardless of what the Navy said, the rocket seen over LA was not a Trident or other ICBM test - they didn't care that people could see it. Probably a small mil satellite.

The Norway spiral was most likely a satellite launch, not a missile test. That would account for the extended burn of the spin motors. A spiral is exactly the pattern a PBV spin motor would make if illuminated by the sun. A 'normal' PBV plume (without spin) looks like a regular cone and burns for a minute or two. 

Some ICBM RVs (warheads) have spin motors, but are only known to burn for a second or two. You can see them in this animation.

Abitdodgie's picture

Does no one else think it is a bit strange how slow it was , if you see the launch of an s300/s400 well it goes fire annnnnd it's gone, this thing as awkwardly slow it was like watching paint dry

Trogdor's picture

Vandenburg's night launches could produce some pretty amazing "light shows" when the exhaust would react with the upper atmosphere. One launch I saw created what for all the world looked like the "Star of Bethlehem" that lingered for several minutes - I think I have a picture of it somewhere. The really bizarre thing about this launch is that it's trajectory seems to be over the city which seems *insane* - what would happen if they had to detonate it due to malfunction?

junction's picture

In the summer of 1960, JFK was campaigning in New York.  He made a brief stopover in Flushing, on Jewel Avenue near Kissena Blvd., as I recall.  Then, everything was local in campaigning.  I could have crawled under the truck carrying the platform from where JFK spoke, to see him from the front, but I chickened out, the space was narrow.  Nixon responded by having a large military transporter with a big pointy missile on it, traveling down Main Street to downtown Flushing.  I happened to see the missile, which looked like a Bomarc missile, as it crossed the intersection of Main Street and Jewel Avenue.  

These missile tests over California are just like a political campaign.  Only, unlike the events of 1960, the opponents now are a vicious Russian former spy versus a homicidal degenerate tool of the New World Order.  When Putin launched those land attack cruise missiles from 1,000 ton ships in the Caspian Sea, he was demonstrating Russian technology ten years in advance of any the United States currently has.  As the Pentagon well knows.  

Obama's response was to order his ISIS headchoppers to plant a bomb on a Russian passenger jet.  That bomb was made by the CIA and almost certainly placed in an airplane food cart put on the jet.  For now, the Egyptians are not revealing that the passengers suffered from shrapnel wounds before the plane crashed.  The only question now is did the bombmakers use Semtex plastic explosive or RDX from the U.S. stores in a German arsenal.  If RDX, it may have been old RDX (RDX is good for 30 years or more), which had taggant plastic markers in it.  Just like the RDX FBI agents placed in the World Trade Center, which was the reason why the WTC metal girders had to be shipped to China for recycling before the metal could be tested for the presence of taggants.

glenlloyd's picture

Yeah, but what else was on that food cart? I'll be mad if there were donuts...

junction's picture

Stoli vodka, which Mohammed Atta drank at Shuckum's Oyster Bar at Young's Circle in Hollywood, Florida.

http://www.911myths.com/index.php/Atta,_alcohol,_strip_clubs_and_drugs

Kirk2NCC1701's picture

FYI... it was the Drink Cart, not the Food Cart.

The Drink Cart comes out as soon as they reach Cruising Altitude, whereas the food comes out later.  This would be consistent with when troubles began. And this should be rather obvious to any Analyst or analytical person worth their salt.

There are several ways of triggering the C4 in said Cart.  Security fucked up big time, or (more likely) they had an insider helping get it on board.  For professionals who know their stuff and have the right agent to help them (wave them through), it's easier than people suspect.

UncleChopChop's picture

as someone who grew up a short walk from main st and jewel avenue, i appreciate this little bit of twisted history. thanks for sharing

gladius17's picture
gladius17 (not verified) HedgeAccordingly Nov 9, 2015 12:23 AM

LOL! I wonder if the Establishment had any idea that might happen when they foolishly bombed that aircraft. Great excuse for Putin to deploy some nice shiny state of the art air defense platforms.

Lore's picture

How does the unproven allegation of a bomb planted aboard a highly trouble-prone aircraft justify elaborate missile defense?

techpriest's picture

What does a PR firm cooking up "they are tearing babies out of incubators!" have to do with two invasions of Iraq?

This plane crash is a crisis and no one is letting it go to waste.

dreadnaught's picture

same as "WE SWEAR that IRAQ has WMDs!  weve seen them-all in a warehouse at 123 main street, Baghdad"   -Cheney, 2002

"We NEVER said Iraq had WMDs-and if you dont shut up about it, you can kiss your family goodbye'  -Cheney to reporter 2006  (with an ugly snarl)

gladius17's picture
gladius17 (not verified) Lore Nov 9, 2015 11:47 AM

You're right, it definitely wasn't a bomb or an anti-aircraft missile. We certainly can't take ISIS's word for it that they destroyed the aircraft. Somebody probably spilled coffee on the lithium battery in their old MacBook thus causing an explosion. Either that or one of the aircraft assemblers forgot to tighten some critical bolt somewhere.

 

nuubee's picture

I firmly believe that this is more dick-size contest, saber-rattling between the U.S. and either China or Russia. I've no idea exactly what capability they are attempting to demonstrate. At least it isn't a war of threats yet.

nuubee's picture

There is *NO* other reason to schedule such an activity within easy viewing of the most populus state in the nation, at the perfect time for the plume of the rocket to be illuminated by the sun in the upper atmosphere against a nearly-black sky. They planned this for a "non-announced, but covered-by-the-populus" effect. This is like shadow saber-rattling.

Lore's picture

Pretty pointless, if you ask me. At least the Russians accomplished something with theirs.  This makes about as much sense as random airdrops of gun pallets. On the positive side, the next week should see a surge in business for prepper supplies and precious metals dealers, not to mention online donations to 'End Time' televangelists.

Phoenix901210's picture

Because Russia would not know the US has nuclear missiles unless they released on over a populated city in their own country?

Ms No's picture

Maybe there is a new element to this, a newer technology.  Russia admitted to doing this a while back.  At about 2 minutes it gets really good.. may want to pause the annoying music.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=norway+spiral&ia=videos&iai=iIg5eczY5Ms

bunnyswanson's picture

All the dogs on the street are barking and my 14 year old cat refuses to come indoors out of the cold.  If there is an EQ in next 24 hours, I am going to be very suspicious.

Dragon HAwk's picture

So now you know what to look for, when you see ten  of those all go off at one time, you know it's time to kiss your ass goodbye