H2O is a very common exhaust from rockets even now and it is white.

Probably carbon remnants ("burnt") would be black and not as easily seen, but yeah, that would probably be there as well.

prometheous and All,

I'm new here, so let me jump into the water, proper.....

Ok guys, lets get real for a moment...Hollywood and counterparts are just chock full of bull-shit, ok? Its a TV show written by pseudo-techno-nerdos, they ain't even real nerds, little alone, physics or sci majors, just bull-shit artists. However to be fair, these 'artists' also have to convey a sense of artificial reality to the viewers of their 'art', true? Else their shows will be very efin boring. I mean, guys, lets look at the facts, how does one sense motion of a remotely viewed physical object in space? Typically there are no 'stationary' visual references when another object such as a planet or a 'ship' is not in the view-space? So what can do they do? They bend reality a little bit, 'special-effects'....the writers exhaust fuel, a contrail of sorts, only one little problem, --spent fuel exhaust, beyond oxidation does not self radiate photonic energy and unless there is a bright sun nearby and the exhaust occludes or refracts the energy in the optical axis of the viewer it is invisible. To be rigorous, should the 'exhaust' radiate any spectral energy, it is likely to be near-infrared which is invisible to the unaided (there are IR to visible light converters) Human eye and in a rapidly diminishing magnitude as the depth of space, (typically -8 Torr) is a significant heat sink...its IR signature is cold.

So Yul, and Y'all, its easy to explain, its mostly entertaining bull-doo doo...heh heh heh heh, know what I mean? Its all bueno..good!

Love

walt
Empaths, Telepaths and Mystical Qabalists moderator

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prometheous posted:

Re: Space missiles with contrails?
Wed, November 15, 2006 - 4:41 PM

this is easy to explain yul; its burnt fuel.