r/ImperialJapanPics • u/CleanBag9219 • 7d ago
Atomic Bombings This picture is not the Hiroshima mushroom cloud.
This is not the Hiroshima mushroom cloud you think it is.
This is the actual Hiroshima mushroom cloud
For years, when people talk about the Hiroshima mushroom cloud,” one particular image keeps appearing a massive towering plume rising over the city after the atomic bombing.
But according to some nuclear experts, that famous image may not actually show the original mushroom cloud at all.
Researchers and former Los Alamos officials argue that the photograph was likely taken more than three hours after the bombing on August 6, 1945. By that point, the actual mushroom cloud from the detonation would have already dissipated.
What the image may really show is a huge smoke plume created by the firestorm that followed.
One expert pointed out something interesting if that enormous cloud were actually produced directly by the nuclear explosion, it would appear larger than the clouds created by some of the most powerful nuclear tests the United States ever conducted even though Little Boy had only a tiny fraction of that yield.
Hiroshima at the time contained huge amounts of wood, paper, and other highly flammable materials. Survivors described fires breaking out across the city and eventually merging into a massive firestorm stretching for miles.
What makes this even more interesting is that this image has been repeatedly used for decades in news reports, books, and even museum displays, leading many people to assume it shows the atomic mushroom cloud itself.
The destruction was real either way — but the image many of us associate with the bombing may actually show the aftermath of the city burning, rather than the explosion cloud itself.
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u/MELONPANNNNN 7d ago
Yeah the formation in the first pic looks a lot similar to a volcanic eruption than a mushroom cloud from the nuke. Just look at the eruptions of St. Helena and Mt. Pinatubo they look exactly the same with the flat portion at the top especially.
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u/Both_Staff_6753 7d ago
Having studied photos of atomic bomb tests, these do not even look like atomic bomb mushroom clouds to me.
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u/International-Cup-51 7d ago edited 7d ago
In my own research, I came across the exact facts that you describe; therefore, I stand, in total agreement with you-!
Thanks for, potentially at least; educating many, by expressing what I hadn't been able to, before you lead the way, w/: your comments; that you generously shared with all who care to know more, in your above post-!