Giant linear black shadow jutting out of sky WPAFB

Hey guys I was doing some work on the roof of a good sized building at Wright-Patterson AFB Dayton, OH on Thursday Aug. 28th 2014. My whole crew noticed this big black line shooting up into the sky, that looked as if it had no origin. In the picture there is a contrail way up in the sky, which I saw several of, but to my knowledge light does not scatter this way. The shadow would be on the ground or the roof would it not? This line appeared to hover in mid air for about 10-15 min. and eventually faded out. Any idea what this might be? I have seen that I'm not the only one to see these lines/shadows.



Here is a link to the pic right side up.
Larger Picture

Contrail shadow, pretty common.

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The most interesting type of contrail dark line is when the contrail is lined up with the sun. This produces a slice of shadow through the atmosphere that looks like a dark line when viewed edge-on. It is quite difficult to visualize what is going on since you have to think in three dimensions, and we are accustomed to thinking of shadows as being flat, since they are usually cast on surfaces.

a reply to: JediMindTrek

I've seen this effect too. I figured it to be the shadow OF a contrail/chemtrails. Really couldn't believe my eyes the first time I saw one. I'm not far from you in Toledo.

a reply to: JediMindTrek

That actually looks more like a rocket launch trail. Could be from a new type of jet though.

It does look like the contrail shadow that others are showing. I see you are looking at the shadow.

a reply to: Mianeye
They may be common but they are still weird.

Did you notice a second odd trial on the left?

originally posted by: Char-Lee
a reply to: Mianeye
They may be common but they are still weird.

Yes

Clouds cast them too.

I've seen this a couple of times. The contrail was probably right in line with the sunlight and the trail left a shadow that followed in line with the old faded contrail.

Something even cooler than that I saw once was a small cluster of clouds at the horizon at sunset. The cluster was a symmetrical group of the same sized clouds. They left shadow lines that crossed the whole sky. Each line got wider in the middle of the sky and skinny again towards the other horizon. It made the whole sky resemble the colors of a watermelon, and the sunset was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.

I think either the Japanese or Chinese flag may be based on the same thing.

The pic wouldn't be a commercial solar job being staged would it?

I was inside Borders once reading a book when i looked up and saw the exact same kind of black line in the picture running from right in front of me going across the room into the far corner ceiling.
I put it down as an optical illusion as i blinked and then it disappeared.

a reply to: Mianeye

They look heavenly but not the same as when you see a totally black line on a blue sky. I took a picture of one going straight up from the horizon, they angle looks so strange also, that was the first time I has ever seen such a trail, i think it was the end of last year, I can't find my picture.

a reply to: Char-Lee

You mean without a contrail or cloud...Strange...

originally posted by: Mianeye
a reply to: Char-Lee

You mean without a contrail or cloud...Strange...

No there was a contrail just looks strange where the air makes a shadow of the contrail without cloud to project the shadow on, I realize there are water droplets and some such way it works. It was a clear hot day in Medford Or and it came from behind a mountain and straight up, new to me this type of thing.

a reply to: Urantia1111
Yeah the contrail shadow makes since, I've just never seen one. Also in 3 dimensions I could see how it's possible

a reply to: Char-Lee

Yeah it was over 90 humidity this past week in Dayton

a reply to: Char-Lee

Yeah I noticed multiple, which leads me to believe the conditions are rare. There are always aircraft leaving contrails in the sky's surrounding Dayton, we have an international airport, wpafb, and spring field air national guard.

a reply to: Char-Lee

Ah ok

New stuff is the most exciting, it makes you speculate and wonder.

When i started sailing i saw all kinds of weird weather or just natural phenomenas that i knew nothing about, walls of fog, lightning from an almost clear blue sky and such, they always seemed mysterious until the captain or others explained it, i loved the thinking before the explanation..

Here is another great explanation on contrail shadows...

www.atoptics.co.uk...

What's so odd about it ? Looks like a jet contrails above an air force base. Oh my how odd. Really you're kidding right?a reply to: Char-Lee

Here's a link to a thread I did and some more pictures amazed me,
Ats

a reply to: Char-Lee

The cloud layer that it's projected on is so thin that you can't see it with the naked eye, unless there's a shadow being projected onto it.

For those of us born before 1984, I don't believe we ever saw a shadow cast onto the sky. We were taught the sun cast shadows of things below it, onto the ground. Guess new things come along every day