Strange sky last night.

Hi to All,

I witnessed an anomaly in the sky last night.

At the time, the sun was setting and there was a particular cloud which got my attention.

I starting taking some pictures of it and moved to another target area. Shortly afterwards,

I went back to the cloud formation and noticed a blue line which seemed to be sourced at the cloud. It was easily viewable by the naked eye and ran completely across the whole sky from west to east. The sky in the east was very dark and the camera couldn't catch the line in the east, but my eyes certainly did. The whole thing lasted about 20 minutes.

Here is the links to the images at Photobucket.

Warning, 10 megapixel images, if you don't have broadband.

i362.photobucket.com...
i362.photobucket.com...
i362.photobucket.com...
i362.photobucket.com...

Mob

Wow, cool pics. It sort of looked like a blue rainbow. Had it recently rained or raining then. By the way, nice area it looks like. Lake front property? I'm jealous.

Wow! That sure is strange. Reminds me of the time I captured a pink box of light on camera.

I've seen something like that before as well, except it was darker (the "beam"). It was around for a good 5 - 10 minutes before it faded out. Saw it around Eastern KY.

[edit on 9-7-2010 by bluegrassconspirator]

very cool pics, I have nothing to offer as to what the blue line is, but it`s thread worthy for sure, if only to get a rational explanation.

Where did you take the pics? Nice scenery.

[edit on 9-7-2010 by psilo simon]

this sounds very interesting.
is there anyway we could have one of our more pc savvy members than myself embed these?

thanks in advance

and thanks for taking the time to take the pictures OP

~meathead

Yes, the blue line was sourced at the cloud. It is called an anticrepuscular ray.
www.environmentalgraffiti.com...

reply to post by maybee

Hi Maybee,

No rain all week, so far. I also was leaning towards rainbow, but no rain and the colour ruled that out for me.

The lake front is the Atlantic Ocean. This is a semi sheltered sandbar which has just reopened to swimmers. It was shutdown for a number of years due to high bacteria in the water. Its also a protected area now and a good site for birders.

I am very happy to see it reopened because its very beautiful.

The line has me stumped, never saw anything like it before around these parts.

Mob

edit spelling error

[edit on 9/7/10 by marsorbust]

reply to post by Phage

Hi Phage,

Definitely looks related to the images except for the lack of taper in comparison and the fact that it seems to be only one ray. Do the rays in your link cross the full sky? Maybe I missed something, I'll look again at your link.

I'd feel better about it if there was an image with just one ray that I could see.

Thanks for your valued input Phage.

Mob

reply to post by marsorbust

How about this one?
anticrepuscular
Note that this is a panoramic view.


[edit on 7/9/2010 by Phage]

reply to post by Mike Stivic

Hi Mike,

Unless ATS fixed the problem, last time I tried I couldn't upload 10 megapixels images for embedding on site, smaller no problem.

Mob

reply to post by Phage


Looks good Phage, just wondering why mine is so narrow. You seem to have found the cause my friend, hope that means we'll be seeing Arizona weather here from now on. I don't know how you do it but you always seem to come up with the answers. Good job, starred for your fine answers.

Mine didn't taper at about 45 degrees altitude and stayed that way to the east, wish I could have caught that on the camera.

Mob

reply to post by galactictuan


You still got that box of light?

Sure would like to see that.

Mob

reply to post by psilo simon


Just so you know, its called Dominion Beach.

Its located on Cape Breton Island, north east Nova Scotia.

Mob

reply to post by bluegrassconspirator


Thanks for your info, glad to see that someone else has witnessed this ray.

It sure is beautiful to see, the camera doesn't do it justice.

Mob

reply to post by marsorbust

The one you saw was probably being caused by a distant thunderhead hidden behind the cloud deck that you could see. That is the usual source when there aren't high mountain peaks in the vicinity.

reply to post by Phage

The Cape Breton Highlands mountains are 40 miles directly behind this area.

How do you do it? Your a wiz at this stuff.

Very Good work

Mob

Ill tell you what it was, an invisible cloaked mothership going mach 50 leaving a trail would be cool though

reply to post by marsorbust

In simple terms it appears to be a sky shadow cast by something in the distance the setting sunlight didn't get through.