'Dark/Black' contrails???? Anyone know what to make of this???

Hi All,
My daughter & I were at the beach last week, when I noticed dark lines/rays coming down from a cloud.It was so unusual I at first thought it was my eyes. They looked like sun-rays coming through the cloud, except the sun was no-where near and the lines were dark. Freaky, but I shrugged it off. My daughter took a pic on her phone but they don't show up very much at all.
Three days later, my daughter calls me excited/scared saying theres more lines in the sky, this time they were REALLY prominent & dark. This is over 350km's away from the first sighting.
She posted the photos to me & they are very freaky.
It nearly looks like an 'invisibility' kinda shield to me.
I've NEVER seen or heard of these lines before ,& it did spook me a bit!
Will let you guys look and tell us what you think.....; )

ok , not having any luck posting pic's!! Can someone help me out please?


img.abovetopsecret.com..." target='_blank' class='tabOff'/>

img.abovetopsecret.com...

Contrail Shadow

reply to post by JoshF


Thanks for that, but the pics I've got are alot more defined and much bigger/wider.
I asked my daughter if she had seen any planes prior to noticing these (she was out on a run!), and she hadn't.
She also said they were only in the sky for approx 20 minutes.

Originally posted by jewells
reply to post by JoshF

 

Thanks for that, but the pics I've got are alot more defined and much bigger/wider.
I asked my daughter if she had seen any planes prior to noticing these (she was out on a run!), and she hadn't.
She also said they were only in the sky for approx 20 minutes.

Yeah it is just a shaddow,
www.flickr.com...

and you did upload those pics AFTER i commented.

From your description, it is exactly what JoshF stated; a contrail shadow.
The thickness of the shadow is going to be affected by the thickness of the contrail itself, and the angle of the sun. Also the presence of atmospheric ice or haze can make them look even stranger.

Originally posted by jewells

She posted the photos to me & they are very freaky.
It nearly looks like an 'invisibility' kinda shield to me.


img.abovetopsecret.com..." target='_blank' class='tabOff'/>

edit on 26-1-2012 by jewells because: (no reason given)

img.abovetopsecret.com...

edit on 26-1-2012 by jewells because: (no reason given)

I'm sorry, but "invisibility sheild"?

What are you trying to say?

I fly from the uk to amsterdam and vice versa every week, and a couple of weeks ago when we were coming to the dutch shore i just happened to look out of the window and seen a plane with no markings on the tail heading the opposite direction, with a trail of black smoke being emitted from the back, almost as bad as a display jet...

I thought it was strange at the time, firstly as it was so close to us (hard to judge the distance in the air though), secondly the black smoke and thirdly the lack of markings...

reply to post by JoshF


Yeah that looks more like the pics she took.
Your other link that i saw was more of contrails & thinner dark lines.
& YES ,it was AFTER you commented

reply to post by applesthateatpeople


By that I meant the way the lighter clouds fade & merge in with the sky.
Geez, toey much???

Originally posted by defcon5
From your description, it is exactly what JoshF stated; a contrail shadow.
The thickness of the shadow is going to be affected by the thickness of the contrail itself, and the angle of the sun. Also the presence of atmospheric ice or haze can make them look even stranger.

Thanks for the explanation.


As I stated, I've never seen this before (nor has anyone that we showed the pics to), so it was a bit unsettling.
The straightness of the lines just made it look stranger!

reply to post by GeordieLegend

Full sized airliners are used as private jets by those with a few Dollars to spare,hence the lack of any "normal" livery or markings.Also I don't know if there are any still flying,but the Convair CV880/990 used to emit clouds of black smoke on take off and landing like no other airliner I've seen......

Originally posted by Imagewerx
reply to post by GeordieLegend

 

Full sized airliners are used as private jets by those with a few Dollars to spare,hence the lack of any "normal" livery or markings.Also I don't know if there are any still flying,but the Convair CV880/990 used to emit clouds of black smoke on take off and landing like not other airliner I've seen......

Thanks for the reply.
It seems to be a fairly common phenomenon ,which makes me wonder why I've never seen them before.
(Probably see them everywhere now!

Originally posted by GeordieLegend
I fly from the uk to amsterdam and vice versa every week, and a couple of weeks ago when we were coming to the dutch shore i just happened to look out of the window and seen a plane with no markings on the tail heading the opposite direction, with a trail of black smoke being emitted from the back, almost as bad as a display jet...

I thought it was strange at the time, firstly as it was so close to us (hard to judge the distance in the air though), secondly the black smoke and thirdly the lack of markings...

edit on 26-1-2012 by GeordieLegend because: (no reason given)

Thats more likely a shadow from a cloud above falling on the contrail, I do lots of flight in and from the UK as well.

Originally posted by GeordieLegend
I fly from the uk to amsterdam and vice versa every week, and a couple of weeks ago when we were coming to the dutch shore i just happened to look out of the window and seen a plane with no markings on the tail heading the opposite direction, with a trail of black smoke being emitted from the back, almost as bad as a display jet...

I thought it was strange at the time, firstly as it was so close to us (hard to judge the distance in the air though), secondly the black smoke and thirdly the lack of markings...

edit on 26-1-2012 by GeordieLegend because: (no reason given)

I saw the same thing flying from Germany to Denmark durring the G20.As someone above commented about shadows from clouds above.Not the case,we were well above the cloud line and I viewed it horizontally.This was the broadest band I have ever seen and was jet black as if the engines were on fire.

reply to post by 13th Zodiac


I'd say the lines we seen were way too dark to be shadows too. It was like proper black smoke. It seemed to disperse quite quickly too...