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Star fish bowl12/22/2023 ![]() Coale, some hotels in Hawaii offered "rainbow bomb" parties on their roofs for Starfish Prime, contradicting some reports that the artificial aurora was unexpected. These auroral effects were partially anticipated by Nicholas Christofilos, a scientist who had earlier worked on the Operation Argus high-altitude nuclear shots.Īccording to U.S. An interesting side effect was that the Royal New Zealand Air Force was aided in anti-submarine maneuvers by the light from the bomb. At twilight after the burst, resonant scattering of light from lithium and other debris was observed at Johnston and French Frigate Shoals for many days confirming the long time presence of debris in the atmosphere. The visible phenomena due to the burst were widespread and quite intense a very large area of the Pacific was illuminated by the auroral phenomena, from far south of the south magnetic conjugate area ( Tongatapu) through the burst area to far north of the north conjugate area ( French Frigate Shoals). According to one of the first technical reports: Īfter the Starfish Prime detonation, bright auroras were observed in the detonation area, as well as in the southern conjugate region on the other side of the equator from the detonation. An uninvited scientific expeditionary ship from the Soviet Union was stationed near Johnston Atoll for the test, and another Soviet scientific expeditionary ship was in the southern conjugate region near the Samoan Islands. This location was at the southern end of the magnetic field line of the Earth's magnetic field from the position of the nuclear detonation, an area known as the "southern conjugate region" for the test. Ī large number of United States military ships and aircraft were operating in support of Starfish Prime in the Johnston Atoll area and across the nearby North Pacific region.Ī few military ships and aircraft were also positioned in the region of the South Pacific Ocean near the Samoan Islands. In addition, a large number of rocket-borne instruments were launched from Barking Sands, Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands. Ī total of 27 small rockets were launched from Johnston Atoll to obtain experimental data from the Starfish Prime detonation. The EMP damage to the microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 900 miles (1,450 km) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, : 5 setting off numerous burglar alarms, and damaging a telephone company microwave link. Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. Parts of the missile and some radioactive contamination fell upon Johnston Atoll and nearby Sand Island and the surrounding ocean. ![]() ![]() The missile was between 30,000 and 35,000 feet (9,100 and 10,700 m) in altitude when it was destroyed. The range safety officer ordered the destruction of the missile and warhead. The Thor missile flew a normal trajectory for 59 seconds then the rocket engine stopped, and the missile began to break apart. The initial Starfish launch attempt on June 20 was also aborted in flight, this time due to failure of the Thor launch vehicle. The Starfish test was originally planned as the second in the Fishbowl series, but the first launch ( Bluegill) was lost by the radar tracking equipment and had to be destroyed in flight. Thus there is a strong need, not only for better instrumentation, but for further tests covering a range of altitudes and yields. These models are too uncertain to permit extrapolation to other altitudes and yields with any confidence. Despite thorough studies of the meager data, present models of these bursts are sketchy and tentative. Previous high-altitude nuclear tests: YUCCA, TEAK, and ORANGE, plus the three ARGUS shots were poorly instrumented and hastily executed. Government Project Officer's Interim Report on the Starfish Prime project: In 1958, the United States had completed six high-altitude nuclear tests that produced many unexpected results and raised many new questions. The Starfish test was one of five high-altitude tests grouped together as Operation Fishbowl within the larger Operation Dominic, a series of tests in 1962 begun in response to the Soviet announcement on August 30, 1961, that they would end a three-year moratorium on testing.
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