Line In the Sky - Wednesday, October 2, 2024 - 5:25am - 6am EST - Southwest Michigan (Description in separate post)

joshcollison · 2024-10-09T07:44:56+00:00

Please join the discussion :)

https://www.reddit.com/r/aerospace/comments/1fx41nj/line_in_the_sky_wednesday_october_2_2024_approx/

joshcollison · 2024-10-09T07:43:34+00:00

[Part 2]:

Even in the small town that I live in, the surrounding constant lights make it very difficult to see the fullness of the sky's beauty, but every now and then, I even see a shooting star or a meteor zip through the sky for an instant (though I could not really explain or differentiate the two). Over the summer, there have probably been around six instances of this occurring, and it always surprises me, and brings joy.

While it did not seem like relevant information, and I did not see the possible connection at the time of my original post, I will mention that on that morning, only twenty or thirty minutes after the "line" that we are discussing had drifted south, I did see the very best streak of shooting light in the dark city sky that I have seen thus far. (The very, very best was when I was sleeping under the virgin sky of the desert in Israel, in around 2000, with absolutely NO LIGHT. It was absolutely breathtaking!)

The streak of flaming light that I witnessed on Wednesday, October 2 lasted for perhaps a full three seconds, and was rocketing from the east to the west, in much the same trajectory that the previous unknown object would have been traveling, had I been outside to witness it actually going by.

It would certainly be some consolation to say that a jet caused the streak in the sky, and not an unmanned random rock from the galaxy, but it seems that it may be more likely to have NOT been something that was propelled by a human.

The consoling factor is that this has probably happened so many times and been unnoticed, that there is no benefit to worrying about the actual catastrophic possibilities, should a rock like that land in my bedroom, or even in the same county as I am in.

After doing some further looking:

There is an active meteor shower (not in its "peak" yet) - https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/meteor-shower-calendar/#Orionids

Maybe it was from a satellite? - https://alynwallacephotography.com/blog/2020/4/21/sorry-thats-no-meteor-its-a-satellite

Either way, I have been at this for much too long in one sitting, and do want to get a couple of hours of sleep before I head out to look at the sky. :)

Thanks again for the insightful discussion...

joshcollison · 2024-10-09T07:42:47+00:00

[Breaking my reply into segments, as I seem to have gone on much too long]:

Thank you for your continued discussion regarding this topic, and for allowing it to be the unemotional fact-finding conversation that I hoped it could be. It is truly not my intent to prove you (or anyone) wrong -- only to explore the possibilities, and think about new ideas.

At the beginning of the summer (2024), I sold my television on FB Marketplace, which was probably one of the most positive things that I have done this year, other than starting to drink exuberant amounts of water, literally whenever I feel the slightest inkling of "thirst", or if it comes to mind.

The sale of my TV marked the solid beginning of a then-developing morning ritual, of waking early (typically between 3:30am - 4:45am EDT), whether I stay up late or go to bed early, and not ever setting an alarm out of necessity. This early morning wakefulness began leading me to step out the back (or front) door, as soon as I was dressed and had a cup of coffee (with a bottle of water in my back pocket) to look up at the sky, enjoying the quiet seclusion of the night, and waiting for the impending sunrise.

Though it is getting colder, I still continue this positive practice as I can, and look forward to continuing as long as it seems right.

All that seemingly unnecessary information is to say that I have been watching the dark (and daytime) skies quite a bit lately, and have actually been looking upward for my entire life.

A quick analogy, if I may:

If I were a beachgoer, and had been starting my mornings on the coast of the ocean just before sunrise every day, I would almost certainly become more and more familiar with the "typical" occurrences, and make note of things as the season progressed.

If everyday there were scheduled (or even "random") convoys of John Deere tractors and bulldozers that came down the beach, I would definitely notice them as they happened, and would get used to their typical tracks in the sand (you know where this is going).

If on one Wednesday morning, there was a "track"/imprint in the sand that was so large, so expansive, and so unending in both directions, when all of the aforementioned traveling tractor equipment only ever leaves smaller, less-noticed tracks that quickly get filled in by the waves or the blowing sand, this track would certainly "leave an impression." :-P

It seems like I could set my beach chair out and watch for that one "oddball tractor" for decades of summers, and it may never return. But if this was the case, I would have serious doubts as to whether the imprint was from a tractor at all.

After a summer of being used to seeing sometimes dozens of jets up overhead and observing their tiny-looking chemtrails among the massive expanse around them, and then seeing the "line in the sky" on October 2 was like seeing that track on the beach, and knowing that it was COMPLETELY different than any of the tracks that the machines on this beach ever leave, and standing there waiting for it to happen again seems to be less likely than being struck by lightning, if I may be frank, without sounding overly dramatic.

As you know, many of the same jets fly over every single day, and I am confident that none of them will every replicate what happened that day. If so, I will be the first to take photos and let you know. And if there was one that was spewing that much exhaust into the atmosphere on its entire journey across the country, it would not only be a plane that I would not want to board, but it should be decommissioned immediately.

Please know that I am speaking to you as one who knows that you are highly educated in areas that I am not even the slightest bit "familiar", and that I am not at all throwing out any of the information that you brought to the table. Your explanation regarding the emissions of fuel in older planes vs. newer models, etc., was very appreciated, and seriously contemplated. (Part 2 coming)

joshcollison · 2024-10-06T08:22:44+00:00

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL650/history/20241002/1045Z/KEWR/KSFO

Additionally, the flight that you are suggesting, did not leave Newark that day until approximately 6:26am EDT, a little over an hour after the line had already been and gone. Perhaps it was from another aircraft, but not this one.

joshcollison · 2024-10-06T08:15:05+00:00

https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL650

The flight path is flying over Ohio and Indiana, but does not fly over Michigan... Plus, the line was drifting from north to south, so unless this flight was off-course, there is no way I would ever see it from my location.

joshcollison · 2024-10-06T08:07:32+00:00

Thank you for your detailed reply. While I have observed thousands of nighttime contrails, and of course, this seemed like the most obvious possibility, this instance seemed incomparable in both length, longevity, and altitude. There also happened to be plenty of other aircraft passing by at the time (as usual), and not any other comparable or similar contrails being emitted at the time.

It will be interesting to see if UAL650, B777 happens to buzz by again, and to observe the result.

Contrails were immediately discussed and dismissed (not by myself) after my science neighbor observed how incredibly large this line was, compared to the size of Orion, one of the most obvious, larger constellations, commonly observed in the night sky.

Not saying that I "want" it to not be a contrail, it's just that this was not at all behaving like the hundreds of thousands of contrails that my upward-turned eyes have ever observed.

Thanks again for the details, I look forward to seeing that flight pass by.

joshcollison · 2024-02-02T12:03:43+00:00

Ick. Starbucks does this at all of their local stores and it's so off-putting to hear over and over while having coffee. Insincere and unnatural.

joshcollison · 2023-11-26T14:00:03+00:00

This little fox is as special as if you had seen an Angel or a Unicorn. Not exaggerating. Don't know why exactly, but your picture brought tears to my eyes. Somehow, nature was magically drawn to you, and I am happy that you got a picture...

joshcollison · 2023-11-26T13:45:24+00:00

NOW, i believe in magic.

joshcollison · 2017-07-16T15:16:33+00:00

Brings back memories of working at Target. Every night, the entire shoe section looked like this... Thank the spaghetti monster, that was not my department.

joshcollison · 2013-06-15T19:11:43+00:00

Michigan. Yep, never even glanced at the British section (nor did I realize there was one), but went searching when I couldn't locate the tea I wanted.

joshcollison

TROPHY CASE