Warp 9

7 responses to “Warp 9”

1. 

   !MimosaMicheMichelle!

   Apr 5, 2009 at 4:57 am

   It looks like it was a great rocket day!

   Reply
2. 

   jurvetson

   Apr 5, 2009 at 6:15 am

   Yes! Fun was had by all. Here are a couple more shots of Erik & rocket:

   

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3. 

   nhr

   Apr 5, 2009 at 7:46 am

   Steve noted:
   > cool thermal effects visible at full size.
   >
   > I wonder why they show up at the edge?

   This looks like an optical phenomenon similar to what occurs in Schlieren photography.

   In a conventional Schlieren setup, a knife edge is positioned at the focal point of a focusing lens, blocking about half of the incoming light. This increases the brightness difference between the image points whose constitutive light rays had trajectories unaffected by the knife, and the image points whose light rays have been blocked.

   Recall that the focal point of the focusing lens is the conjugate image of an object at an "infinite" distance. Thus, the optical conjugate of a horizontal knife edge positioned at the focal point is also a horizontal edge, positioned at an "infinite" distance.

   As the rooms in the labs where Schlieren photography is practiced have generally a finite size, one prefers to put the knife edge at the focal point, rather than position a suitable contrast-creating boundary at an "infinite" distance.

   In your picture’s case, the contrast-enhancing virtual knife edge is constituted e.g. by the dark mountaintop seen against a bright sky, or the white tee-shirt of the gentleman seen against the dark, reddish wagon. Both the mountain and the gentleman with the white tee-shirt seem to be at a distance that is a sufficient multiple of your lens’ focal length that they can be considered to be near optical "infinity": with a 100mm lens, a six-feet tall person must indeed be about 120 meters away from your camera to have the size imaged in your picture.

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4. 

   TomiTapio

   Apr 5, 2009 at 1:10 pm

   Nice overview scene as well.

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5. 

   j_silla

   Apr 5, 2009 at 2:13 pm

   Wonder how far would it go?

   Diameter: 9.25"

   Length: 10′ 2"

   Weight: about 35 to 45 lbs. finished

   Features:

   60% Semi scale kit!

   29" Fiberglass nose cone

   3/8" Baltic birch 7-ply fins, rings, and bulkheads

   30′ Strap Nylon, Quicklinks and U-bolts

   98mm Motor Mount

   can get them from here for 530

   Reply
6. 

   Erik Charlton

   Apr 5, 2009 at 6:22 pm

   Thanks Steve. Great catch. I’m still counting Mach diamonds I’m seeing…maybe 7?

   

   @j_silla — I was flying a mod of the Polecat kit (http://stores.whatsuphobby.com/-strse-12/Polecat-Aerospace-5.5%22-Hawk/Detail.bok). On the high impulse, short burn Warp9, she only went to 952 feet…Looking to keep her low for a big show and easy recovery =) I’ve lost too many rockets at Snow Ranch flying the really big motors.

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7. 

   jurvetson

   Apr 6, 2009 at 3:44 am

   Yup. I see 7 too in this photo.

   nhr: fascinating. thanks.

   Reply