Mystery Picture.

When fifteen year old Jonathan Burnett went out with his camera a few days ago, he thought he'd just get some snaps of his friends skateboarding.
Then one of them spotted something in the sky - and Jonathan's quick reactions got him this picture.

news.bbc.co.uk...

I must say the picture looked better on the TV the orange flame was very bright the colours seem subdued in this image.

Still,what do you think??

Looks like a chem trail to me.

If it is, that's one helluva chemtrail. It looks like it's maybe something on reentry, or something like that. Chemtrail is unlikely, I'm thinking, simply because of it's color.

Depends on what they were spraying that day

Wow, that looks pretty awesome. Looks like a ship in reentry into the earths atmosphere just a thought.

On TV it is better detail.The orangey red is firey.There was more contrast too.

It's definately not a hoax.The kid was on TV and he seemed quite bemused that anybody would be interested in it.

An RAF pilot has E-mailed saying that it's a fuel dump.I think that sounds right.Looks a bit dangerous though like a napalm attack.

Could be a meteor... there have been a lot of those lately.

could be a meteor

definately something burning up in the atmosphere though

Reminds me of the November 16 1998 video by Jim DeVoy of Port Charlotte, Florida. He videotaped what appeared to be a large fireball shooting across the sky. A few seconds later, a really fast moving white streak shot across the sky perhaps in pursuit of this large fireball. People claim that one of the objects in the video was the mysterious "aurora" vehicle.

wow certainly looks cool. ive seen that vid you are on about that one also is fun to watch

I'd have to go with the re-entry burn theory on that one. If it was an aircraft dumping fuel (as they suggest on the site) what would cause it to ignite?

My first impression was that it is a meteor (bollide) however I will not argue with an expert who feels it is a fuel dump.

Definatly weird....hmmm

I would have to say maybe it was one of the British Space mission vehicles re entering the atmosphere. Although it could very well be a meteor...or a space craft of unknown origins

Yeah. It looks like a meteor entering the earths atmosphere. It could very well be a space vericle re entering(or entering for the first time) the atmosphere aslo yes. Defiantly something entering the earths atmosphere. Dont know about the fuel dump theory... why would it illuminate the sky like that? If it's ignited, I don't know what would have ignited it (like UniversalFiction said)

I also concur that it appears to be a meteor. I actually read on a couple ather sites it WAS a meteor, but, they were US news sites, so, go figure. They always lie anyways.

How about that cross..... I don't see no cross in that photo. I think the religious nuts are taking things a bit far on that one.

Nasa sez it's a meteor.

Later, he e-mailed the picture to Nasa asking for an explanation and was amazed to discover that the space experts were so impressed with his snap they had published it on their website.

news.bbc.co.uk...

it definetely aint a fuel dump i've seen one and it doesnt look like that it doesnt even look like a meteor either because the shape of it but im unsure

It look's like a high altitude cloud, the picture was taken late in the evening when the sun was setting. It's just late evening light reflecting off the cloud.

There is some disagreement over whether it is a meteor or whether it is contrail being illuminated by the sun.

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov...

this looks cool

[Edited on 6-10-2003 by Russian]