It’s a pretty disturbing (and oddly beautiful) collection of nuclear bombs going off.
Out of the whole bunch, though, this one stood out. It looks like it failed to make any kind of real mushroom shape, and there’s distinct chunks fluttering back to earth, reminding me of the Challenger.
Any idea why it’s different? Did it not go off right? Maybe it’s just smaller than the others?
Squink is right, it was a shallow underground explosion. It’s the Sedan test, July 6, 1962, a part of the Plowshare program to test nukes for mining and cratering purposes. It was about 13 miles from the place now known as Area 51.
This is it. A colleague of mine who is an expert on nuclear weapons explained to me that they are the trails of rockets sent up just before the blast. The spacing is known so they serve as a yardstick for the size of the blast.