This selfie was taken above a Chinese balloon over Missouri. Here’s how we know that

A US Air Force pilot looked down on a suspicious Chinese hot air balloon that was flying over the Central United States on February 3, 2023. The pair were flying over Bellflower, Missouri.

Department of Defense

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Department of Defense

A US Air Force pilot looked down on a suspicious Chinese hot air balloon that was flying over the Central United States on February 3, 2023. The pair were flying over Bellflower, Missouri.

Department of Defense

It’s arguably the best self ever taken. A pilot aboard the Air Force’s legendary U-2 spy plane looks down on a Chinese-alleged balloon that crashed somewhere in the United States.

Photo, Dec. 3 received and released by the Department of Defense on Wednesday, he announced reached legendary status inside the Pentagon.

But where was it taken?

In a world of very few secrets, he can indeed answer that question.

The balloon and the U-2 reconnaissance plane were located just south of the small town of Bellflower, Missouri, population 325 according to the US Census.

So if you’re curious, how does one remove a supposed spy?

It’s really not an impossible task, and I’ve put my process into it Twitter thread earlier today (Another Twitter user the same conclusion several hours ago).

First of all, we have to look at where the balloon was from the day the military photo was taken, on Dec. 3. There have been several reports of balloon crossings in the Midwest, moving from near Kansas City toward St. .

Next, take the borders of the photo. On the horizon There is a clear river visible with some high clouds. A quick review of public media officials revealed it was ahead of the cloud over the Mississippi River that day.

The Mississippi River makes a good candidate, but where along the Mississippi? To figure it out, it helps to enlarge the photo and look for distinct boundaries. One note, in the center of the image, is a Y-shaped channel leading to the river. A channel appears next to an embankment or bridge.

And sure enough, by scrolling around that section of the river on google maps, it is possible to find the Y channel shaped and up the 24th Mississippi.

A little more work will give you another point on the map, the bend in the road ahead, US 61.

Once you have two points, use Google Earth or another mapping program to draw a line through them. Then follow it, and sure enough, you will be able to find the town of Bellflower and the location of the balloon scout and the plane in the photo. The whole thing is a little rough, and it doesn’t line up perfectly, but it’s pretty good.

By plotting the boundaries along the board and leading the line, it is possible to tell where the balloon is flying.

Google Earth / Screenshot via NPR

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Google Earth / Screenshot via NPR

By plotting the boundaries along the board and leading the line, it is possible to tell where the balloon is flying.

Google Earth / Screenshot via NPR

There are other cool boring things that we can tell from looking at the photo. The service altitude of the Air Force U-2 spy plane is somewhere around 70,000 feet. When the plane looks down on the balloon, it seems possible that the balloon is flying at an altitude of about 60,000 feet, as claimed by the Pentagon.

And Chis Combs, an aerodynamics professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, points out that the plane’s shadow observer can also be used to get a better sense of the balloon’s size.

But of course, there’s one question a selfie can’t answer:

Why was the balloon finally making its way across the middle of America?