  We model the off-resonant superradiant Raman scattering of light from a
cigar-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Absorption images of transmitted
light serve as a direct probe of long range coherence in the condensate. Our
multimode theory is in good agreement with the time-dependent spatial features
observed in recent experiments, and the inclusion of quantum fluctuations in
the initial stages of the superradiant emission accounts well for shot-to-shot
fluctuations.
