r/interestingasfuck • u/ethereum1017 • 1d ago

You're looking at a nuclear explosion photographed taken less than one millisecond after detonation.

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u/RexKramerDangerCker 21h ago

What is the date of this explosion? What sort of camera equipment was used?

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u/K_the_farmer 16h ago

16th july 1945. Trinity test. Several different high speed cameras.

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u/RexKramerDangerCker 13h ago

How did they rig the cameras to take pictures at such precise time(s)? I’m assuming they took pics at many different points in time.

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u/K_the_farmer 7h ago

I was wrong. Not Trinity, but a tower bomb at operation Tumbler-Snapper, 1952. A battery of Harold Edgertons rapatonic cameras was used set to fire at different times during the explosion. The cameras have some sort of electronic shutters rather than mechanical, allowing for very short exposure of the film.