Minor weirdness in the sky

[jhetley]

Just out for my evening patrol, prior to locking up, and watched a contrail painting itself across the sky.  Blinking UFO at the front of it, of course -- as I've noted before, we're under one of the "great circle" routes to Europe, and often have a plane overhead.

But the weirdness . . .

Moon overhead, and the contrail had a ghost above it.  Best I can figure, moonlight reflected off the ice crystals of the contrail and lit up atmospheric moisture above, creating a second image.  Probably requires certain exact light and viewing angles to work.

Comments

[kinzel.livejournal.com]

And last night my deck-walk included a view of the ice ring around the moon with a bright red-flashy-light leading a contrail approaching the western edge... which was pierced .. .and the redlight and contrail proceeded to split the moon, leaving vague shadows of their own ...whee...

am thinking of getting some astronomical binoculars (say 70 or 80 mm lenses) if income allows it; my older binoculars were cast-offs and just don't cut the light collection as they should with my eyes aging...