Odd sun pics with plane and black shadowy line

Not really sure if this is the place to post this or not, but today, when going shopping with my 3 year old..I and several others in the parking lot noticed a really strange looking thing going across the sky. There was the sun....with a rainbow ring around it..but also, a plane flying through the sky, leaving behind a trail..but right along side the plane..(not following it but running along side it) was this shadowy black line....I took 3 photos with my iphone, which actually captured what I saw pretty good. The only thing they don't show is how for a period of time the trail from the plane and the black line seemed to make a ringlet of cloud...like...they were seperate, and then they would be bubbled together. I can't see it in the pic that way, but maybe someone knows what to do with images that I don't? In any case....with the 3 pics, I made a duplicate of each, took the highlights out, defined it and sharpened it so you could see the black shadowy line I am talking about. The first pic is the original pic, and then the 2nd pic is the defined one, the 3rd pic is the original image and the 4th is the defined image. I'm sure this is probably something normal, but I have not seen it before.
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Wow....interesting. You know, in the past few days, I have read 4 or 5 posts from people saying they saw a halo around the sun. It's a natural phenomena, so I didn't think much of it...but so many people are seeing this in different places. I have no idea what the line is...maybe a jet?

It's probably the shadow of the contrail.

reply to post by StealthyKat


You see what I mean though about the black shadowy line right? its kinda hard to see in the pics..I can tell you it wasn't hard to see in person....several of us stood in the parking lot snapping pics because you could clearly see it......to us in person, it looked like a clear black line going through the sky, it was seperate from the white trail line by the plane.

The easiest answer is the simplest. The Sun Halo which is light reflecting off of ice crystals is a relatively normal effect, so wouldn't it make sense that the plane is flying above the layer of reflecting crystals and the contrail is casting a shadow or blocking the light onto the the ice crystals.

That's what I see, interesting effect though.
I like it.

reply to post by Wookiep


Thats really what I figured too, but I've never seen one do that before.

I have some really good shots of this halo around the sky taken in N Zealand and was told the same - that it is a natural occurance caused by ice crystals in certain types of clouds.

I can't help but think though - if it was a natural thing - how come we aren't seeing them all the time and I hadn't seen one all my life as I am sure other people haven't either.

Who decided that this is what it is - reminds me too much of the stupid excuses they give for the many UFO shots.

This is being more commonly seen all over the world - well how come we are now seeing more of them.

It is not normal! It's also a very new phenomena and I very much doubt the Meteorologists explanation for it.

reply to post by Nkinga


I can see it a little...and I believe you. Too bad you couldn't get a video. But the line thing does sound odd.....did it look solid?

reply to post by Nkinga


It's not really a "Military Project" (the Forum posted in ) is it?

More like a "Creative Photography Project" sort of topic.....ya think? Maybe?

(Or, "Natural Wonders in Photos"?)

reply to post by pazcat


Actually...I have a question..or a request....my photo album on here is set so "everyone" can view it. For whatever reason..size of photo? the ones posted here in the thread don't show the whole photo. The ones in my photo album do show the whole photo...including where the black line goes behind the building (right hand corner you can see the buildings roof) the problem is....for it to be a shadow of the contrail, there would need to be a contrail? right? well, when the line reaches the building, there is no more contrail, it has already dispersed by that point. Again..I personally have not seen this before..ever, and obviously I wasn't alone because the others in the parking lot were equally curious about it. So, I will probably have many more questions as I think of them. I have however seen a sun halo before...never quite this clean and crisp and pretty, but I have seen one!

reply to post by weedwhacker


Well...that was why "1. I said I wasn't sure if this was the right forum." but 2....it had a military plane..with a black line showing up beside it..or rather...it was a military plane that had left behind the white trail. Which to me was weird because I have never seen that before...as for the "creative photography" not sure bout that...it was taken with an iphone. Wanted to clarify..the black line was what I had not seen before.

reply to post by StealthyKat


I can't say "solid" it did look seperate, and like I said, if you look at the photos in my album (same photos here, but its the whole photo) you can see the line goes on behind the building, even though the contrail has dispersed. What was odd was like I said...you could see the plane making the contrail, with the black line beside it...(but now that I think about it...I think the black line was there already?, like...it didn't seem to grow as the contrail grew....it seemed like it was there and then the contrail was there. and there was a kinda bubbly looking circular cloud effect on the contrail, ringlet. thats what I would call it..it looked like a closed ringlet. It was hard to get a better photo, because one..it was an iphone, but two..I'm can't exactly look up at the sky into the sun to snap the photo...so I just kinda aimed the phone up and snapped.

This is a shadow of the contrail. Often can be seen in the mornings or evenings. I saw one this last evening. The plane was flying east almost exactly. The shadow was in front of the aircraft and it seemed almost as if the pilot was using it as a path .

reply to post by yoesse


I almost starred your post....it "seemed" you had it correct, but....you finished with this:

...seemed almost as if the pilot was using it as a path ...

I hope the word (I emphasized) "seemed" was just a turn of phrase.....because, I can assure you that...NO, we don't follow shadows as a "path"....and, from the point-of-view of the airplane (and crew) the shadow would not have been visible to them, in any event......

reply to post by Nkinga


Ahhhh...I was about to respond to your next post, directed to me, about the "military airplane" (because I couldn't see the airplane), but then I spotted this line:

For whatever reason..size of photo? the ones posted here in the thread don't show the whole photo...

I learned, recently, about that little "glitch". ATS Media has a limit of about 600 pixels on the horizontal, for a "full" embed. BUT, when the picture is in your Media album, copy the Embed Code "as is", then in the brackets (tags) where it is "atsimg".....delete the "ats" letters.....leave it as [ img ] (photo code) [ /img ] (NO spaces, those were to prevent a false code display).

THAT will give you scroll bars, on the pictures in your post. OR...you could re-size them....but, then detail is lost. Your choice.


SO....I wish to know the "military airplane" angle, when I see them! Oh, and the "creative photo" comment was because of shooting towards the Sun....always a risky move, and "arty" in photography......

reply to post by weedwhacker


well, actually...I will tell you that in the pics...by the time I could get the picture, the plane was gone..or rather..not in the are of the contrail nor the black line. We live near several air bases here in northern Ga, so we always have military planes flying around. The only extra detail in the full pics is the line going down behind the building's roof top. What was strange about that is...the black line is there, but the contrail line is dispersed and gone. But I will post one of them anyway. Like I said before, I was pretty sure it was something..normal, natural, I had just never seen such a thing before. I turned the corner from my home and got onto the main road to head to the store an when you came around the curb the first thing you saw was this black line going through the sky....it was after you were in the parking lot that you could see the plane going and the sun with the halo.

reply to post by Nkinga


Hmmmm...........that is strange..... I can't really think of what it could be....maybe just an odd cloud that the plane flew next to? I'm going to check something out, and if it's what I think it is, I'll post it here.

reply to post by Nkinga

reply to post by Nkinga


See how on the very very bottom it seems to come together? that was where I saw the closed ringlet look, the best way for me to describe it would be an extremely extremely thin tornado...not spinning. Then past that point as it goes behind the building you can see...the contrail is no longer there, but the black line still is...but thicker.

i just wish i could see this in person