PickyP
I have also had a play with this image. I traced the outline of the right (intact looking) wing, and flipped the outline onto the left (damaged looking) wing.
Then I wondered why it looks asymmetric - now could that be because this photo was taken when Columbia was making the left turn - at that point it was rolled 57' left, hence left wing down.
This does 2 things - it makes the fin (and any associated plasma trail) visible to the camera - which I believe is the trailing edge artefact, and may also make visible any plasma / hot flow above the wing to some extent.
Anyone know if there is a significant (ie visible) 'cloud' of plasma or material above the wing in normal re-entry ?
The orange line is a symmetrical outline of the right wing (for reference).
Anyone got an opinion ?