(meteorobs) Question....sky sighting!

[Chris Peterson]

Hi Pam-

What you describe sounds like a jet contrail. It isn't uncommon to see them 
at night, but most people don't spend enough time watching the sky to 
notice. Your conditions- outside, around a fire- provided the opportunity to 
catch this. You can see the same contrail behavior during the day. Under the 
right high altitude conditions, contrails can persist for many minutes. They 
will slowly diffuse, which causes the broadening you saw, and can be blown 
intact across the sky, causing the your drift.

On July 18, at the time you give, a full Moon would have just been rising, 
and there may have still been some evening twilight. If you were in the 
woods, you might not have noticed the Moon on the horizon, but it would have 
been doing a good job lighting up any overhead clouds or contrails.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pamela Keth" <pamelad68 at verizon.net>
To: <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 9:22 PM
Subject: (meteorobs) Question....sky sighting!


> We live in central PA.  Tonight between about 9-10 p.m. we were sitting
> around a fire with our kids when we saw a few meteors....so I assume.
> Everyone was getting excited about these sightings, when one of the older
> kids noticed something in the sky.  It looked like a stream that comes 
> from
> a jet during the day, not typically visible in the night sky. The line was
> rather thin and to the West of the roof line of the house.  The line moved
> in an easterly direction and got thicker as it passed over us. We are not
> astronomers and know there is probably a good explanation for what we saw.
> It moved rather rapidly stayed the same length, but increased in width.
> Can you tell me what this would be?
>
> Thank you
> Pam Keth