I know that there'll be a few other topics about Discovery's launch, but here I was wanting to point out that as Jay keeps saying, though they are visible for a short time, perhaps 4-5 seconds, after main ignition, the plumes of the main shuttle engines quickly become invisible, something you can see the entire way up. The shuttle engines glow white, but only the boosters have a visible flame coming from them.

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Howling from the Shadows

It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality. --- JayUtah

You can't reason an irrational person out of an irrational belief. --- Noclevername

Apollo: The History and the Hoax
Enter the World of Athran

If you wach NASA TV you can see the ET diagnostic cam all the way up through SRB sep, MECO, and ET sep. It gives you a good feel for how various kinds of plumes behave on the ascent. And a good view of the starless sky. (One of my engineers noted how bright the Earth was and noted that it was because of the camera exposure setting.)

Some other things to watch for: transient plumes from the RCS just before and after ET sep. That's a more accurate rendition of how they behave than D.P. Wozney's highly misleading analysis of the photo in Joe Allen's Entering Space (in which, ironically, with some enhancement, I believe you can see stars).

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