"It's in the name- faster than the speed of sound. The human eye will struggle to track an object moving that speed."
That's "supersonic" which is anything travelling above the speed of sound (Mach 1). Hypersonic refers specifically to the Mach 5+ range. But even then it's not magic. It's more than possible to track an object moving at that speed if there's enough distance.
For example, Mach 5 is (rounding for ease of understanding) just over 1 mile per second. The human FOV is roughly 120 degrees for binocular vision if you stare straight ahead. At 1 mile from the flight path, the missile would be crossing 60 degrees every second, so you'd see it for two seconds. More if you move your head to follow.
And a mile is uncomfortably close when heavy ordinance is coming down.
uvulectomy 0 points 20 hours ago
That's "supersonic" which is anything travelling above the speed of sound (Mach 1). Hypersonic refers specifically to the Mach 5+ range. But even then it's not magic. It's more than possible to track an object moving at that speed if there's enough distance.
For example, Mach 5 is (rounding for ease of understanding) just over 1 mile per second. The human FOV is roughly 120 degrees for binocular vision if you stare straight ahead. At 1 mile from the flight path, the missile would be crossing 60 degrees every second, so you'd see it for two seconds. More if you move your head to follow.
And a mile is uncomfortably close when heavy ordinance is coming down.