Story highlights North Korea test-fied its Hwasong-15 missile Wednesday

Pyongyang has been caught editing photographs in the past

(CNN) The photographs North Korean state media released of last week's Hwasong-15 nighttime missile test appear to have been tampered with, an analyst told CNN.

Marco Langbroek, a space expert who tracks North Korea's missile program, told CNN he noticed something strange about the stars in images taken from opposite sides of the missile launch.

"You should see constellations that are opposites in the sky. That is not the case," he said.

Langbroek determined the direction of the photos based on the shape of the plumes of smoke coming from the rocket engine.

More evidence of tampered #Hwasong15 imagery: two images, mirrors of each other (look at exhaust plume, lack of number on missile body 2nd image) so opposite viewpoints. Yet starfield in background both south-southeast, Orion and Canis major (but with Sirius missing!)@planet4589 pic.twitter.com/ZqfygbOwFa — Dr Marco Langbroek (@Marco_Langbroek) December 5, 2017

In the early hours of Wednesday, North Korea test-fired what is believed to be its most technologically advanced long-range ballistic missile. North Korea state media reported the Hwasong-15 reached an altitude of 4,475 kilometers (2,800 miles), putting the "whole" US mainland in range.

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