Figure 7, below, is a small version of a photo taken during an earlier STS mission. The image is from STS-68 and was taken from very nearly the same position as the STS-107 image. The following is a link to the original image on the NASA server. The image is very high resolution and the file size is 2.90 MB. I include the link here for completeness. You will be able to follow along without viewing this original image.
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-68/hires/sts068-272-075.jpg
Figure 7.
In figure 8, below, I have cropped the original STS-68 image while maintaining its full original resolution. I did not alter the image brightness or gamma. This cropped image shows the same general left wing area that Mr. W's image shows. Arrow A points to a gap that is quite similar to Mr. W's STS-107 gap. Arrows B, C, and D point to shuttle bay door latches. The three unlabeled arrows point to visible marks on the RCC. Regarding those RCC marks, I submit that they could well be mistaken for "gouges" or "gashes" by someone with a particularly inventive mind. Needless to say, STS-68 did manage a safe reentry even with all this "gap and gouge damage" (sarcasm intended).
Figure 8.
Figure 9, below, is the same image as figure 8 except I have increased brightness and gamma significantly. This reveals that the gap in the white line is just light being blocked by a latch as I noted earlier. The other two arrows point to identical latches. The part of the latch that is blocking the white line can be clearly seen on those other two latches.
Figure 9.
So, how does this all relate to the STS-107 image? Well, just go back to page 3 and look at figures 5 and 6. Obviously the latch in that photo is blocking the white line just as the latch in this photo is. Mr. W has suggested, however, that the latch in his image is somehow different. In particular, he has suggested that the latch in his image does not have the "extended" part and therefore it can not be blocking the white line. The photos on the next page, however, reveal that all the shuttle bay door latches along this area are the same.
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