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posted 08-15-2005 05:44 PM               

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Just curious...

Was there basically no credence given to the possibility that Columbia was destroyed by lightning? Per "Megalightning" show in June by National Geographic?

Thanks. Sorry if this is old news, I completely missed it until recently.

[This message has been edited by sts107fan (edited August 15, 2005).]

Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-15-2005 06:06 PM               

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I believe by "megalightning", you are referring to the purple streak caught intersecting Columbia's reentry trail by an amateur photographer.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that this was an artifact caused by a faulty camera. Nikon has said that the model of camera used is known to occasionally produce a purple fringe on photographs as a result of "color interpolation combined with chromatic aberration", an effect that has been reproduced by independent reviewers.