A U.S. Air Force pilot seemed down on the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon because it hovered over the Central Continental United States February 3, 2023. The pair was flying over Bellflower, Missouri.

Department of Defense

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Department of Defense

A U.S. Air Force pilot seemed down on the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon because it hovered over the Central Continental United States February 3, 2023. The pair was flying over Bellflower, Missouri.

Department of Defense

It’s arguably the best selfie ever taken. A pilot aboard the Air Force’s legendary U-2 spy aircraft is wanting down at China’s alleged spy balloon because it hovers someplace over the United States.

The photograph, taken on Feb. 3 and launched by the Department of Defense on Wednesday, has reportedly reached legendary status contained in the Pentagon.

But the place, precisely, was it taken?

In a world with only a few secrets and techniques, it is really potential to reply that query.

The balloon and the U-2 spy aircraft had been simply south of the tiny metropolis of Bellflower, Missouri, inhabitants 325, in response to the U.S. Census.

In an e-mail to NPR, the Pentagon declined to substantiate the placement of the selfie, saying solely that it was taken “over the central continental United States.”

So, in case you’re curious, how does one go about finding a supposed spy balloon?

It’s really not an unimaginable process, and I laid out my course of in a Twitter thread earlier right this moment (Another Twitter consumer reached the same conclusion a number of hours earlier).

For starters, you may search for roughly the place the balloon was on the date the army stated the photograph was taken, Feb. 3. There had been a number of stories of the balloon passing over the Midwest, transferring from close to Kansas City in direction of St. Louis.

Next, test for landmarks within the photograph. Far off on the horizon there is a river which is clearly seen, together with some excessive altitude clouds. A fast evaluate of publicly out there satellite tv for pc knowledge revealed there was a entrance of clouds alongside the Mississippi River that day.

That makes the Mississippi River a great candidate, however the place alongside the Mississippi? To determine that out, it helps to reinforce the photograph and search for distinctive landmarks. One apparent one, within the middle of the picture, is a Y-shaped channel resulting in the river. The channel seems subsequent to a dam or bridge.

And certain sufficient, scrolling round that part of the river on google maps, it is potential to seek out the Y-shaped channel and Lock 24 on the Mississippi.

A bit of extra work will provide you with a second level on the map, a bend in a freeway within the foreground, U.S. 61.

Once you might have two factors, use Google Earth or different mapping software program to attract a line by way of them. Then observe it, and certain sufficient, it is potential to seek out the small city of Bellflower and the place of the spy balloon and the aircraft within the photograph. It’s all a bit of approximate and would not line up completely, however adequate.

By plotting landmarks on a map and drawing a line, it is potential to pinpoint the place the balloon was flying.

Google Earth/Screenshot by NPR

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Google Earth/Screenshot by NPR

By plotting landmarks on a map and drawing a line, it is potential to pinpoint the place the balloon was flying.

Google Earth/Screenshot by NPR

There are different co0l tidbits that we will inform from wanting on the photograph. The service altitude of the Air Force’s U-2 spy aircraft is somewhere around 70,000 feet. Since the aircraft is wanting down on the balloon, it appears potential that the balloon is flying round 60,000 ft in altitude, as claimed by the Pentagon.

And Chis Combs, an aerodynamics professor on the University of Texas at San Antonio, factors out that the spy aircraft’s shadow may also be used to get a greater sense of the balloon’s dimension.

But after all, there’s one query a selfie cannot reply:

What, precisely, was the balloon doing on its journey throughout America’s heartland?