The Redstone Radar Blob

'Whatever it was' versus what we know it wasn't

Whatever Tuesday's Redstone radar blob was, it was unlike anything most professional radar watchers have ever seen. Speculation has centered on secret defense testing at Redstone Arsenal, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville has said it has found feathery pieces of fiberglass near the area. All this has led Huntsville scientists to be discreet in their public speculation so far in deference to national security. But they are shedding more light on an event that exploded on radar like a thunderstorm, spread nearly 10 miles wide and a mile high, and lasted for nine hours - all while being virtually invisible to the naked eye.

Click to enlarge

What it's not:

1. A thunderstorm or rain. There was no rain in the area.

2. Bats, birds or insects. "Bats or birds tend to have a (radar) signature that expands rapidly...

3. The 1,000 ladybugs released by the Huntsville Botanical Garden to fight aphids.

4. Typical small fragments of military chaff (radar countermeasures).... This did not look like that."

5. Dust. "It wasn't that," Havin said, "otherwise we'd see signatures like that in the Plains all the time ...

6-8. Radiation, jamming (which has an on-off signature), or a bad Huntsville Utilities substation.

7. Smoke ... But to have a signature of this size and strength, you'd have to go from nothing to an extreme forest fire almost instantaneously. And you'd see a lot of smoke, which we did not."


Here's what the two meteorlogists can say about "whatever it was," in Havin's words.

1. It was suspended in the air for about nine hours, started on the north side of Redstone Arsenal...

2. All the radar signatures "had to occur between the surface of the ground and about 5,500 feet...

3. It was greater than 8-10 miles in diameter for "most of the duration."

4. "It was pluming." The source was apparently sending up either multiple or almost continual releases of "whatever it was from very low elevation or from the ground.

5. It showed up on different radar frequencies, including the S-band radar used by the National Weather Service and the C-band radar used by one local TV station.

 I'm sure it's merely coincidence that it occurred over the Redstone Arsenal.  /sarc