Posted by Brian on March 15, 2003 at 17:56:47:
This picture was taken in New mexico. (It has been reproduced widely as a negative, showing the orbiter dark against a white background and blown up to the point that the pixels are obvious. This is a positive image of the underside of the orbiter, glowing red hot, against the darkness of the pre-dawn sky.) It appears to show some sort of discontinuity in the leading edge of the wing. Investigators have suggested that the jagged edge of the leading edge of the wing in this picture is not the physical structure of the shuttle, but incandescent plasma generated by the disturbed airflow at the breach in the RCC panels on the leading edge of the wing. The glowing vortex can be seen trailing aft of the left (lower) wing.