I Just Saw a HUGE Comet/Meteor tail Accross Sky In PNW. (pictures!) 5/31/13 update: A Missile?

reply to post by westcoast


Based on the description and photos, it appears to be a cloud or contrail being altered over time by winds aloft. Living under several major commercial air traffic corridors and military ranges, I have seen numerous (and often stranger looking) examples. It was definitely not a celestial event (meteor, etc.), and does not resemble any rocket or missile trail that I have seen (and I have seen many).

Any chance it could be this? The date is right.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Okay...let me try to explain this again.

First, you can't go by the pictures for how it really looked. They suck. I simply used them to try and show that there really was something there, for what it's worth.

It was NOT a contrail. Absolutely 100% certain..and my husband who was in the military for 20 yrs agrees. No way. It was NOT the northern lights, although they were visible on the LOW north horizon last night as a green glow.

The pictures were a long exposure, but that was only because I was trying to make the white light visible...it was NOT moving forward, but slowly undulating, spreading out and fading. It glowed. There were no clouds in the sky.

I did NOT see what made it. It was already present from horizon to horizon as ONE LONG TAIL when we got out there. It thickened and spread out to the SE, which is what makes us think that is the direction it came from (whatever made it)

It was INSIDE our atmosphere...was NOT fire or anything that appeared to be burning. Nothing was breaking off or falling away from it. It really looked like glowing mist or vapors waving in the sky, which is why I describe it as looking like a comet tail, but I know it couldn't be one.

My husband agrees with me that it most closely resembled the tail of a long-range missile. I don't get it though. Where would it be coming from and going to? Based on the direction, it would have originated Eastern Washington or further.

I don't know if it could have been that Chinese rocket. The projector in the link shows it going over the Eastern States. I am in the extreme NW corner...almost to Canada. And there was no appearance of anything burning.

NOT a fireball. NOT a plane or contrail. NOT a cloud. NOT northern lights. I am stumped.

ETA: Don't see how it could possible be the asteroid, as this appeared to be inside our atmosphere.

Really fascinating. Lucky you!
A noctilucent cloud was my first thought but the timing isn't really right for that.

There was a moderately strong (Kp6) geomagnetic storm occurring at the time so it's hard to rule out an auroral display. I have no personal experience with such though so I can't say much more about it.

I think it may be a Noctilucent cloud fueled by the aurora. There has been a lot of activity lately. The fact that it was green makes me think that but they are often blue also. I saw a blue one that lasted about an hour last year after a solar storm. Auroras flicker and sometimes act like that also. The picture is dark, maybe use a time exposure next time you see one. I doubt if it would be a meteor trail although a piece of broken off comet would leave a green streak but I doubt if it would last that long. They say that Noctilucent clouds have ties to meteor activity though, I am not sure exactly how the meteors help form them though. Space Weather now has those cloud pictures on their site.

reply to post by Phage

Aurora 5/31/13 Taken by SkunkBayWeather.com on May 31, 2013 @ Hansville, Washington

www.spaceweather.com...

Thanks Phage and Rickymouse! I think that noctilucent cloud fueled by the Northern Lights is the best answer so far.

The images I took are misleading. It wasn't green in appearance, but white with a blue tinge. I have a new camera that I still haven't figured out how to do the time-lapse right in the dark when I can't see the dials. I was really rushed. By the time I got it figured out it was gone. My old camera had a dead battery (I can operate all the dials in the dark without looking. )

Around here, we usually only get the green tinge on the very extreme Northern horizon, as in the picture that Phage linked. Only one time did I see the waves of green light streaking out...it was amazing! About 15 yrs ago. I'll never forget it.

I'll never forget what I saw last night either, no matter what it was! Glad my husband got to see it too.

Looks like a cloud or vapor trail, and then the Northern lights.

reply to post by westcoast


Hi I had a look at the exif data

First 2 pictures 0.625 second at f 3.5 at 1600 iso/asa

Next 2 pictures 10 secs at f3.5 at 100 iso/asa

Can I ask why you reduced the iso to 100 for the second set it would have been better to have 10 secs at 1600 iso than 10 secs at 100 iso.

As others have said comets are usually spotted weeks/months in advance and are visible for day/weeks even months. Meteors are usually a quick flash/streak of light lasting a second at most, unless they are large enough to make it further through the atmosphere (like recent events in Russia) and satellites look like a small star and move across the sky at a fairly quick speed.

If you have a smart phone there are plenty of apps to show the night sky from your location some even show an
augmented reality using the phone camera showing stars satellites visible from your location.

Originally posted by westcoast
My husband was even excited about it and that takes a lot.

there's nothing like personal experience

reply to post by westcoast

It probably was a meteorite and not a missile or plane.
Look for official report website links in Signals thread and the Mexico fireballs with sonic booms thread...make a report on them.
Vandenberg AFB in CA has a launch schedule online...check to verify no launches last night.
Ignore the snarky replies...idiots.

reply to post by westcoast

Anyone here know where to look to find out if this was picked up anywhere??

lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com...

www.amsmeteors.org...

Originally posted by Granite
It probably was a meteorite and not a missile or plane.

What evidence is there that it was a meteor?

A meteor that left a train that big would likely have been seen (and/or heard) by quite a few people, and it would have lit up the sky like it was daylight (or brighter).

It simply does not look like a train produced by a large meteor or fireball, or a train produced by a rocker for that matter (meteor and rocket trains are very similar).

For starters, trains produced by meteors and rockets in the high atmosphere soon become visibly distorted (seconds to tens of seconds) due to high atmosphere winds.

This is from an old post I made on here over 3 years ago, and has some good examples:

This fireball occurred over Afghanistan in 2008. Note how initially the train is almost straight, but in the following photographs, it becomes much more distorted.





Another train from a fireball over Greenland in 2008:


Now if it was a meteor/rocket in the lower (below 50 km) atmosphere, we would expect there to have been sonic booms.

So it was not a meteor or a rocket!

As for noctilucent clouds, and auroras, both of those will appear to glow - this looks like neither to me.

Sorry Westcoast, but I have to agree with those who are saying it's just an ordinary cloud.

By the way Westcoast, it sounds like you've got yourself a decent camera there. I look forward to seeing more pics as you start to get to grips with it

reply to post by FireballStorm


It actually WAS glowing....very bright white with a bluish tinge. That is why the one picture I took with it on a normal setting even showed anything.

Reason why my settings were bad, is because I didn't know what I was doing. The camera is still new to me and I didn't have the time, light or patience to see what I was doing. I turned the ISO down to 100 so that the shutter would stay open longer. Like I said, the pictures were horrible.

I saw something similar again last night. Not nearly as bright, but close enough that I am thinking it was a noctiluminent (SP) cloud and perhaps the auroras thrown in.

Whatever it was, it was neat.

Originally posted by westcoast
reply to post by FireballStorm

 

Reason why my settings were bad, is because I didn't know what I was doing. The camera is still new to me and I didn't have the time, light or patience to see what I was doing. I turned the ISO down to 100 so that the shutter would stay open longer. Like I said, the pictures were horrible.

Hi Thanks for that I couldn't understand why you had done that, that's a nice camera(Nikon D7000) hope you get to grips with it soon we have a thread on here that might be of interest to you if you want to take images of stars etc.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by westcoast


Mentos in a 2ltr. Pet bottle of ( the 'c' word ) ...

Originally posted by westcoast
It actually WAS glowing....very bright white with a bluish tinge.

My guess would be that it was light pollution that was making it glow. Noctilucent clouds tend to be wispy - the complete opposite of what you photographed. Auroras would look greenish in colour. So I'm fairly certain it was an ordinary cloud.

Regarding the camera settings - I'd advise keeping the ISO high in low light (1600 or 3200 for very dim light) to begin with, keep your lens aperture open as far as it will go, and the just take a series of exposures of varying lengths (1 sec, 3 sec, 8 sec, 12 sec, and 15 sec for example - this is known as bracketing your exposure). Then check your "histogram", which is a very useful tool for learning which exposure works. It's a little more complex with astrophotography, but this technique will give you well exposed daytime shots, and you will learn lessons that will help you with low light photography.

Low ISO (50-100) is more useful for bright daylight, although there are exceptions, which you will learn as you progress.

Just keep your camera in manual mode, look at your meter (less useful at night - experience and experimentation are a better bet), and bracket. You'll soon get the hang of it.

PS. Your shots really aren't that bad - a little under exposed but at least you can see your subject! I'm sure a bit of image editing would bring out further detail.

reply to post by westcoast


Does this look like what you saw?


Picture Link

Link

Hey Westcoast, I think you may have seen noctilucent clouds. Very cool!

Check out this NASA article published yesterday. Apparently, they have become visible earlier this year than ever previously detected.


At 34-37 secs into this video, the clouds seem to match the movement you describe.

Originally posted by whatnext21
reply to post by westcoast

 

Does this look like what you saw?


Picture Link

Link

edit on 6-6-2013 by whatnext21 because: (no reason given)

YES! That first picture of the white band is exactly what we saw. The video though that Olivine linked is also what it looked like. I think that perhaps we have a bit of a rare thing happening around here lately. I have seen this two more times, much fainter, in the following days.

Thanks for all of your help, you guys. Why I love ATS!!!