A tear in the sky?

Calling Zaphod and all the othe aviation experts,
Yesterday while on a motorcycle ride in the California coast range , we saw something very odd.
This is the third time I've seen such a thing in six or seven years.
It was a beautiful day witn clear skys and scattered clouds. We were headed east Hollister ca on J1 to Mendota ca through the mountains, and to the south of us from wnw to the south east a "feature" overtook us. The best way to describe it was a tear in the sky. It wasn't a contrail but a darkish kind of smokey grey disturbance crossed the sky and dissapered over the horizon, it overtook and was above an airliner headed to the south west.
I could clearly see the airliner at the head of it's contrail and this distubance passed it and dissapered in the distance in about 2-3 minutes, while the airliner was visible for a good ten minutes.
As the disturbance passed I could not make out any aircraft at it's head.
It had the appearance of those smoke trails you used to get out of older turbojets , more of a slight discoloration of the sky than an actual smoke trail. It was about twice as wide as the contrail left by the airliner, but had dissapeared with 15 minutes while the jets contrail was still there.
If we weren't in the middle of some of the best twisties there are I would have stopped to take a picture ,but I didn want my tires to get cold. I did stop sveral miles later but the disturbance had disappeared.
Any clues anyone?
Here's a pic of it twenty minutes later, it had all but dissapeared but it illustrates the conditions

Pretty interesting post OP, SnF for the effort. I'll be watching this to see if anyone else happened to snap a picture of the features you're referring to.

a reply to: punkinworks10

At first impressions I'd say it could be an Earth grazing meteor, large enough to make a trail but didn't dive deep enough into the atmosphere to create a shock wave.

I live in Hollister and commute to the San Jose area, I have seen this same thing a few times while driving down Hwy 25... It kind of looks like a smoky contrail but never lasts very long.

a reply to: punkinworks10

I've seen brown contrails many times. Its the way the light hits it among other things.

As for what created it, I've seen a particular aircraft overtake commercial flights like they were standing still, and cross from horizon to horizon in far less time than another aircraft would. Its usually up in Wyoming when I see it.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Sammamishman,
I had thought about a meteor, but I would think that at an altitude high enough to not go incandescent you shoukdnt be able to ser any trail.

LocknLoad ,
Your exactly right , it looks KIND OF LIKE a smokey contrail , but it doesn't and it dissapated differently than a normal contrail.

Zaphod,
LocknLoad described it perfectly, it looks like a smokey contrail but it's more transparent? As it passed it looked very much like a super high speed film of a bullet's trail as it passes throug the air.
It slowly just dissipated, while the contrails from the other aircraft were visibly broken up by the upper winds and drifted to the east with the winds, this didn't change position while it went away, and it was almost as though the sky closed back up behind it

On several occasions while in the sierra I have seen an aitcraft/pulsating brilliant white light, rise up from the south east(Nevada) and fly to the north west, and it crossed from horizon to horizon in a couple of minutes .

Thanks for the replies everyone , I thought some of you would find it interesting.

a reply to: punkinworks10

That sounds about right on the speed. Altitude will also cause the contrails to look and act differently.

The sun sometimes gets behind the clouds and form rays both light and very dark (looking like smoke) they can be seen in any direction depending on where the sun and clouds are sitting. Here's an example

originally posted by: Staroth
The sun sometimes gets behind the clouds and form rays both light and very dark (looking like smoke) they can be seen in any direction depending on where the sun and clouds are sitting. Here's an example

That's a cool picture, but I watched as the disturbance formed,
something passing overhead caused it.

It sounds like a contrail shadow.
www.atoptics.co.uk...
www.atoptics.co.uk...

a reply to: Phage

Hi phage,
It looked very much like a contrail shadow, except there was no contrail in position to make the disturbance, and it was still there
after the contrails had dispersed, and as it was formed there was no other aircraft that could have made it.

a reply to: punkinworks10

It looked very much like a contrail shadow, except there was no contrail in position to make the disturbance, and it was still there after the contrails had dispersed, and as it was formed there was no other aircraft that could have made it.

That is not the way you described it in the OP:

I could clearly see the airliner at the head of it's contrail and this distubance passed it and dissapered in the distance in about 2-3 minutes, while the airliner was visible for a good ten minutes.

Sounds like the shadow extended in front of the contrail. This is what a contrail shadow does when the Sun is behind the plane.

It was about twice as wide as the contrail left by the airliner, but had dissapeared with 15 minutes while the jets contrail was still there.

This is the opposite of what you just said.

www.abovetopsecret.com...
I'd be curious to know if you both saw the same thing, or were in the same area.
Might have just been great conditions over an area for these yesterday.

a reply to: punkinworks10

It's a shadow did it look like this.

Contrail shadow

The shadow of the contrail lands on a layer of haze sometimes not obvious to you but enough for a shadow to show on.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: punkinworks10

It looked very much like a contrail shadow, except there was no contrail in position to make the disturbance, and it was still there after the contrails had dispersed, and as it was formed there was no other aircraft that could have made it.

That is not the way you described it in the OP:

I could clearly see the airliner at the head of it's contrail and this distubance passed it and dissapered in the distance in about 2-3 minutes, while the airliner was visible for a good ten minutes.

Sounds like the shadow extended in front of the contrail. This is what a contrail shadow does when the Sun is behind the plane.

It was about twice as wide as the contrail left by the airliner, but had dissapeared with 15 minutes while the jets contrail was still there.

This is the opposite of what you just said.

Let me clarify,

The disturbance overtook an airliner already in view, and they were on different flight paths.
After the winds had blown the previously mentioned airliner's contrail to the east and broke it up into several pieces the disturbance was still there in the same place.

I have freakishly good distance vision, and I can see an airliner flying overhead clearly at cruise altitude, and while I could see the airliner , I could not make out any discernable aircraft at the head of the disturbance.
And with my freakishly good vision and the hundred mile visibility I could see the airliner itself for about ten minutes. It's broken up contrail was visible for almost an hr as it drifted east. In the photo I posted I was about 30 miles east of where we saw the disturbance. The shot is looking to the south west and the disturbance is ever so faintly there above the clouds and ridge.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Are you able to link us to a higher rez. image in the OP?

a reply to: Sammamishman

Sorry sammamishman,
That's is good as it gets .

originally posted by: punkinworks10




Let me clarify,



I have freakishly good distance vision,

It's a pity your HTC One doesn't!!!

No doubt huh,
Second