The military tested ballistic flare projectile?

Question

The projectile was fired from (90W, 0N) and landed on the opposite side of the Earth at (90E, 0E).

Curious amateur photographer located at (0E, 30N) noticed a bright object rising over the horizon, and made a picture of its trajectory.
He directed his camera horizotally due south, and let exposition continue until the object fell under horizon. The trace of the projectile on the film is

a) parabola
b) ellipse
c) hyperbola
d) impossible to predict


(ignore rotation of Earth)

I just realized the setup as described is impossible. Make it from (80W, 0N) to (80E, 0N)

Answer 1

b) (part of an) ellipse. Ballistic trajectories are simply partial orbits, which are elliptical. Since the launch and impact points are 160 deg apart, the semiminor axis of this ellipse is shorter than earth's radius. The camera is directed 30 degrees above the normal to the (equatorial) plane of the ellipse, resulting in some "flattening" of the ellipse in the image.
I'm assuming that "ballistic" is literally true; the projectile was unpowered, in free fall for the entire trajectory, otherwise it's unpredictable. So if the object was "bright" because of a rocket plume, the problem is self-contradictory: