Meteor or Airplane contrail?

I was out mountain biking in Fountain Hills when I saw the something odd out west over the Mcdowell mountains. I just finished a monster climb and was taking a breather when I noticed it. I found it very strange but chalked it up to an airplane contrail, so I didn't take a picture.

70 miles west of me in El Mirage a redditor took the picture below at the same time, 7:00pm facing west. I wrote the redditor to find out more about his picture.

I am very aware of the jets that fly (I'm right under their landing flight path) and I have never seen anything like this before. I'm outside at sunset pretty frequently and the only thing this reminds me of is what comet Ison looked like earlier this year. I was lucky enough to snag some photos of it (Ison), but I could only see it in the viewfinder of my camera magnified pretty high and not with the naked eye.
Compared to jets in the same position, this was way bigger and had a much longer tail.

What do you guys think? Meteor or Contrail?

To me it looks like something burning up in the atmosphere and not like a plane. Cool picture though.

reply to post by ATSmediaPRO

im in the UK ive seen them before always wondered myself i actually saw a similar one being formed it looked like a jet i remember because i couldn't see the jet it was like the trail was coming from nowhere then it suddenly stopped the cloud it left stayed for ages just slowly dissipating ???

I saw exactly the same thing!
I was out feeding the animals yesterday evening and saw what looked like a very short contrail in the sunset.
It got my attention because the sky was completely clear. No clouds or contrails anywhere else in the sky.
I stood and watched it for about 2 minutes and then it disappeared. I told my husband that "I think I just saw a comet."
I figured that if it was a comet, I would see something online or on the news today.
Thanks for the post.

I would say it is an airplane. The sun is reflecting off the contrail.

reply to post by ATSmediaPRO


I remember when most planes in the sky had short or rapidly diminishing contrails.

Now it is unusual for this to happen to a contrail cuz we are so used to them hanging in the sky all day in stripes, then spreading out into thin clouds and silver haze......

AbleEndangered
reply to post by ATSmediaPRO

 

I remember when most planes in the sky had short or rapidly diminishing contrails.

Now it is unusual for this to happen to a contrail cuz we are so used to them hanging in the sky all day in stripes, then spreading out into thin clouds and silver haze......

The OP's image seems to be of a contrail that is short and rapidly diminishing.

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Its so rare to see a normal contrail now, people aren't used to them!

reply to post by AbleEndangered


looks like a meteriote.. not a plane anything.....

Pretty sure it's an aircraft contrail catching the setting (or rising?) sun.

Here in England, with so many aircraft flying over en route to the US, it can sometimes appear as if we have a dozen comets flying into the sunset. Can look quite impressive at times

I think it's an airplane contrail, I've seen it a few times driving in the evening/morning, the sun catches it just right and makes it look like it's a meteor.

There are many strange things but the strangest I have seen is in this Link

Must have been on August 19, 2013 as i am over 100 km southwest of the location this was taken and I clearly saw this in the western sky. How could I see it and someone who is 100 km away see the same thing? Whatever it was just hung there perpendicular with a flame coming out? To this day I wonder what it was.

reply to post by ATSmediaPRO

Meteor or Contrail?

I would say jet contrail....



But I could be wrong....

AbleEndangered
reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

 

Its so rare to see a normal contrail now, people aren't used to them!

I just saw a bunch of short contrails in yesterday's setting sun while driving between New York state and Pennsylvania, all very similar to the OP's image.

Where I live, I have a great view of the western sky, and see similar contrails often. Granted, I often see long and persistent contrails -- the kind that expand into cirrus clouds, but I also see a fair share of short ones.

I'm not arguing that there are more contrails in the sky; there certainly are more planes, thus more contrails. There may also be a slightly increased number of persistent contrails due to the prevalence of the newer high-bypass engines. However, short contrails are still not what I would call "rare".

Speed is usually a clue. A meteor will be traveling on average 55,000 miles per hour meaning it would cross from horizon to horizon in just a few minutes.

Here is one of my favorite near misses but gives you an example of speed and trail they leave.

whatnext21
There are many strange things but the strangest I have seen is in this Link

Must have been on August 19, 2013 as i am over 100 km southwest of the location this was taken and I clearly saw this in the western sky. How could I see it and someone who is 100 km away see the same thing? Whatever it was just hung there perpendicular with a flame coming out? To this day I wonder what it was.

It could have been a jet contrail lit up by the sun (possibly closer to sunset, hence the orangish color).

It may have looked from your vantage point to be "perpendicular" as if it was headed downward to the ground, but it may have just been a jet flying directly away from you and over the horizon. A plane flying over the horizon on a path directly away from an observer will look to be headed "downward" -- but it would really just be heading toward the horizon...

...such as in this image (although this contrails are not quite heading directly away, but you can see that the contrails would look perpendicular to the ground if they were):

Sunlit Contrail. They fool a lot of people.

One thing that stands out from the photographers comment.

I am very aware of the jets that fly (I'm right under their landing flight path) and I have never seen anything like this before

Landing flight path? Is he aware of the upper air routes in his vicinity? The aircraft that he photographed will possibly be on Flight Radar 24?

Is 7:00pm the exact time on I take it the 24th September?

The times on Flight Radar are in UTC. 7:00pm (1900) will be 0200 UTC

Use KPHX in the search box to centre the map on Phoenix.

www.flightradar24.com...

reply to post by whatnext21


You probably just saw another sunlit contrail. It is amazing how many people get fooled by by them. People over analyze the footage and they can see orbs and glowing balls at the head of the 'flaming' trails, etc. It is purely perspective that makes the object/trail appear to be heading towards the ground. See footage from Germany of a sunlit contrail.



Sunlit aircraft contrail filmed by someone that recognizes what it is



Going back to the 'orbs' and 'glowing balls' that people see at the head of these 'flaming' trails. See following videos and see how much glare an airliner can produce? Combine that with sunlit contrails and you can see why some people can't comprehend what they are seeing.





For an example of how some people can be fooled by the glare and reflection see following. Note the comment from the person that took the video.

kitchener.ctvnews.ca...

SmokyLakeParanormal
Sep. 21, 2013
2:14 PM
I took the original video. Unfortunately it does not do the ibject justice. I was recently in thunder bay and witnessed the object two nights in a row. I have since enhanced the images and found that it is definitely NOT a plane, or one object for that matter. The trail actually consists of multiple orbs (one photo has 13!). Follow on facebook at smokylakeparanormalsociety for more updates.