Paul,
I'm pretty sure that this shape is due to the type and settings of the
camera that was used to take this photograph. It looks as if they
over-exposed the fireball around the capsule in order to get the fainter
"tail" to appear in the same exposure. I would imagine that they needed a
VERY fast exposure, at a VERY large aperature. This would easily over-expose
anything that is bright, like the plasma surrounding the stardust re-entry
capsule. Just a guess though....

Randy L.

"Paul Murphy" wrote in message
.. .
Take a look at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st...c8flight1.html

Can anyone explain the "lolipop" shape versus the normal cometary (round
front slowly tapering to a thin trail) shape of the meteor trail. Is it
just the angle or the exposure time that makes it look so odd?

--
Clear Skies,
Paul Murphy

(remove gemini to email me)