And the fireball created by the X-rays is, for a moment, hidden behind the shock... | Hacker News

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		klodolph on July 19, 2012 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Five Men Agree To Stand Directly Under An Explodin... And the fireball created by the X-rays is, for a moment, hidden behind the shock wave. This makes a "double flash" which can be detected from orbit without even the need for a camera, just point a photodetector at the Earth's surface.

arethuza on July 19, 2012 [–]

Bhangmeters are one kind of specialised photo detector used to detect nuclear explosions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhangmeter

I'm pretty sure these were used in bunkers (at least in the UK) as well as satellites.

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