Jakarta –
Sixty-one years ago, July 9, 1962 to be precise, crowds gathered on the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii and watched the US detonate a nuclear bomb in outer space.
Known as Starfish Prime, the explosion was part of a series of high-altitude nuclear tests known as Operation Fishbowl. Five nuclear devices were launched during the test, with Starfish being the largest with an explosive force of approximately 1.4 megatonnes or the energy release equivalent of 1.4 million tonnes of TNT detonated at once.
After the bomb detonated about 400 kilometers above Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean, auroras were seen in the sky. “In Kwaialein, thick clouds extended the eastern horizon to a height of 5 or 8 degrees,” said one eyewitness to the event, as recorded in a military report, quoted from IFL Science.
The report details that at 0900 RC a brilliant white flash seared the clouds quickly turning into a ball of green radiation that expanded into a clear sky above the overcast sky. From its surface extruded giant white radii resembling cirro-stratus clouds rising up to 40 degrees above the horizon.
These white radii are in a sweeping arc turning downward toward the pole and disappearing within seconds to be replaced by a spectacular circle that appears to move out of the explosion at incredible speed. The sightings finally stopped when the outer ring was 50 degrees overhead.
“The scene did not disappear but persisted in frozen silence,” the eyewitness wrote in the report.
As the green light turns purple and begins to fade at the point of explosion, a vermilion glow begins to expand on the horizon at 50 degrees north east and simultaneously 50 degrees south east expanding inwards and upwards until the entire eastern sky is filled with a fiery red semicircle and dim 100 degrees north to south and half way to the summit. This condition, interspersed with extraordinary white rainbows, lasted no less than seven minutes.
The trials were a response to similar tests carried out by the Soviet Union. Beyond that, these tests were also partly designed to test the effect on Earth’s magnetic field, and whether nuclear explosions in space could be used against the Soviets.
They found some surprising things, namely the test effectively shut down several satellites, including one that was launched the day after the test because it was exposed to higher levels of radiation than expected.
“Several electronic and electrical systems in the Hawaiian Islands, which are 1,400 kilometers away, were affected by this explosion, causing street lighting system failures, cutting power, triggering burglar alarms, and damaging telecommunication relay facilities,” according to a 2012 study.
“What is significant about an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack is that one or several high-altitude nuclear explosions can produce an EMP effect that can potentially disrupt or damage electronic and electrical systems over large parts of the United States simultaneously at a time determined by the adversary. ,” wrote the report.
Sky conditions shortly after the US nuclear test in space. Photo: US Gov
The effect of the test is the emergence of a ‘rainbow party’ that lasts longer than the aurora. An artificial radiation belt was created by the explosion, with higher levels than the naturally occurring Van Allen belts lasting for several years.
Watch the video “There’s an Atomic Bomb and a Nuclear Bomb, What’s the Difference?”
(rns/rns)
2023-08-03 15:00:39
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