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

Originally posted by westcoast
Thanks for all of your help, you guys. Why I love ATS!!!

YOU are also why a lot of us love ATS, because you were observant, skilled, literate, and willing to share your bafflement [when most people conceal theirs].

May your tribe increase!!

reply to post by JimOberg


LOL...why, thank you!

I hope to possibly see this again, and be more prepared to actually take a good picture!

Originally posted by Olivine
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.

It was not NLC's.

These are westcoast's words:

It spanned the entire width of the sky from horizon to horizon and was traveling from SE to NW.

NLC's are lit by the Sun, which at the time (before midnight) would have been well below the horizon in the north. For NLC's to be lit by the Sun from "horizon to horizon" would be physically impossible since Earth would be in the way!

NLC's don't cross the entire sky - they are only seen above the horizon in the direction where the Sun is. Definitely not high up in the sky and close to the opposite horizon (above which any clouds would certainly be in Earth's shadow) as westcoast is describing.

ETA diagram showing how NLC's are made visible by the Sun, and where in the sky they would appear:


As I said before, what westcoast photographed looks nothing like NLC's, and is more likely than not a normal cloud.

reply to post by FireballStorm


It was in no way a normal cloud.

Don't know if you got far enough in the thread, but it was later reported that the Northern lights were visible from my area, and someone took a picture of what I saw. This is why I now believe that we saw was the northern lights, perhaps interacting with the noctilucent clouds.

I am close to the coast, and as the 'stream' was brightest to the west, fading to the East, it would make sense that the aurora could have been impacted by it.