Sometimes I get requests. Sometimes they are requests for interesting things. Here is the video in question:

Could I “please, please, please analyze this?”

Of course the question comes up: is it real or fake? My first approximation says it is real. Clearly, this kind of thing is possible. However, I have been wrong before and this isn’t impossible to fake.

There are a couple of things to check. The first thing that came to my mind was the time of flight. I can get this from the video. If the time in the video is significantly different than what would be calculated, then it is likely...

The massive Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mojave Desert will eventually generate 370 megawatts, a 60 percent increase in US solar-power capacity. Scheduled for completion in 2013 by energy company BrightSource, the 5½ square miles of mirrors will reflect the sun’s heat at water towers, producing steam to spin turbines (natural gas will serve as cloudy-day backup). Ivanpah is supposed to help California generate a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020. Awesome, right?

After all, the Mojave is perfect for producing solar energy (lots of photons). But...