APOD: Unusual Red Glow Over Minnesota (2009 Feb 17)

[WolfgangGer]

Well hello there,
very interesting perspective on the image,i.e. angle, latitude and sunlight and potentially rain/moisture.
Not being certain what was captured,I took notice of the date given for the photo around or just before sunset on (or around) the autum equinox of that year.
Could the magnetic field variation during the equinox be part responsible for these effects?
Along the lines of thought of what we can observe with the aurora borealis phenomenae
Don't know,just my thought.
Six to 1/2 half a dozen it's a great thought-inspiring photo
Thanks for your thoughts.
---Wolfgang---

[bystander]

As RJN noted, the original caption of the image incorrectly stated that the plane was descending to land, but has been corrected to state that it was ascending shortly after takeoff.

As of this posting, you are ascending while landing!

When landing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA in 2002, just before his flight ascended above cloud level in the early evening,

[3lliot]

Landing lights?

Don't planes have a red strobe on the left side?

[aristarchusinexile]

An xyzed pinch of silliness.

[fred60]

From my experience in flying I have seen conditions that probably could cause this.

It is not totally unusual to have a very thin layer of ice crystals, no thicker than about 1/16 inch, that when you descend or climb through them you can actually watch the line pass the windshield. You can actually see through them from above and from below it often looks like a cloud layer. Just like the other ice crystal effects, I'm sure it could be a probable cause for this picture.

[MORCILLO]

I think the image is the result of the low speed of the shutter 1/15 seg. the low ilumination on ground forced this. The relative speed of the plane, makes earth appears quiet, but if you look right lower you can see spots of light moved, precisely the nearest ground, the clouds near the plane, and iluminated by the sun, were very much faster, if you look to left up, you see more focused or quiet orange clouds in a more far term..
If you are in the window seat, near the ground and have a camera you will be taking pictures, if you see these clouds you will fire to it, the sun was near 6 or 7 of the picture and as everybody admits, very low in the horizon, this could be an intentional photo or a simple casuality, knowing how many time this cameras lasts thinking before shutt, the relative speed of clouds and the focus fixed at infinito. Surely taken by an aficionado filling the card. The name of the photographer was John and hated donuts... its a joke.
This is a camara effect. Low shutter speed = moved orange clouds.
This photo surely were best placed in a photoforum....
But this is only a personal opinion.
Sorry about my inglish, but you know, nobody is perfect.

[Bill P]

My guess is that the photographer is sitting just forward of the starboard wing and the twin landing lights set into the leading edge of the starboard wing are switched on, illuminating the wispy cloud just in front of and slightly below the aircraft.

[ccoakwell]

Pilots who have flown through red, orange or pink clouds at sunset or sunrise know that they are red, orange or pink all the way through. In my opinion, this red glow over Minnesota is simply some rather wispy cloud formation catching the glow of the setting sun. They stick in one's memory because they are so beautiful and planes don't often get to fly through them.

[Jaxxon]

You guys are over analyzing this, maybe. I think it is a simple reflection, alright. I'll bet the plane was painted orange. Only the guy that took the picture can verify that!

[bboyce]

Looks like low angle illumination of rain by the setting sun - I've taken such a picture, from the ground, that that shows the same color and diaphanous appearance.

[cdavenport]

Notice the relative lack of contrast in the ground below, which suggests that this photo was taken as the sun was setting. Therefore, a scattering of low-deck clouds at just the right altitude relative to the setting sun and the passing airplane might have reflected the telltale orange glow of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. This is fun!

[dzach]

As the photographer of the image in question, I am finding this forum discussion quite fascinating, and I hope it continues. Here is some additional information that might be useful.

As RJN noted, the original caption of the image incorrectly stated that the plane was descending to land, but has been corrected to state that it was ascending shortly after takeoff.

The sun had not quite set; those that have examined the EXIF data might take note that the camera was likely set to EDT as I was returning from Michigan. I have pictures starting 17 minutes later in this series of the beginning of actual sunset (from perhaps 30000 ft or so).

I was looking towards the sunset out of a starboard window.

I have no specific recollection as to as the specific configuration of window shades and seats on the port side of the craft.

I seem to recall the aircraft to be a B737 or the Airbus equivalent. It was a northwest airlines flight.

To those who seem obliged to propose the most unique hypotheses I offer this suggestion: try not to cut yourself on Occam's razor!

Okay, now that we know from the photographer himself that the camera was likely set to EDT, not CDT, and that the sun had not actually set yet, that reshuffles the playing cards here. He was looking out a right side window, so that eliminates the red beacon light hypothesis, since that is on the left side. It is green on the right (starboard) side. The clouds, or virga, or whatever, if illuminated from the west appear to be illuminated from slightly below. Either from the setting sun itself, shining between some obstructions (like other clouds on the western horizon), or from a sun glint off a lake.

Mr. Blessing. if you know for sure what the correct answer is, I hope you will eventually enlighten us. Thanks for the puzzle.

[apodman]

I'll bet the plane was painted orange.

Or maybe it was one of those special planes decorated with the image of an SI cover model heating up the atmosphere. Sexist comment, I know, and I'm properly ashamed, but there it is.

[iyan7]

Folks,

If the photographer was riding on a 747, this may have been caused by the jet engines.

Of course, this is a wild guess.

Cheers,

Ian

[bhrobards]

I am not sure if we are looking directly at a cloud or its refllection. I vote for cloud. In South India at sunset I have seen clouds directly overhead, significantly redder than APOD, such that my surroundings were bathed in red light. The reason was my position at the tip of the Deccan Plateau created a comparitively very long path for the sunlight. I was also close to the clouds. My point is the color is not unusual just very intense as it would be if you were close to the illuminated cloud.

[vivaperu]

I agree with ccoakwell. It is a close range sunset seen from above instead of from below.
vivaperu

[Apex]

As the photographer of the image in question, I am finding this forum discussion quite fascinating, and I hope it continues. Here is some additional information that might be useful.

As RJN noted, the original caption of the image incorrectly stated that the plane was descending to land, but has been corrected to state that it was ascending shortly after takeoff.

The sun had not quite set; those that have examined the EXIF data might take note that the camera was likely set to EDT as I was returning from Michigan. I have pictures starting 17 minutes later in this series of the beginning of actual sunset (from perhaps 30000 ft or so).

I was looking towards the sunset out of a starboard window.

I have no specific recollection as to as the specific configuration of window shades and seats on the port side of the craft.

I seem to recall the aircraft to be a B737 or the Airbus equivalent. It was a northwest airlines flight.

To those who seem obliged to propose the most unique hypotheses I offer this suggestion: try not to cut yourself on Occam's razor!

Hi Tyler,

Thanks for posting. Can you answer some questions please?

1) How many engines did the plane have? (two if B737??)
2) Where were you seated in relation to the wing & engines?
3) Did you shoot any more pictures in the 2 mins before and after this shot?
4) How did the orange cloud appear to your naked eye - same, more bright or less bright?
5) What was your approx angle of shot - 0deg pointing towards the cockpit, 90deg straight out, 180deg to the tail?
6) Can you post another pic from the same camera - I'd like to examin the EXIF.
7) Any way you can explain the EXIF data saying focal length of 5mm?
8 ) How far away would you estimate the orange cloud to be? 5meters, 100meters, 0.5km, etc...?
9) How long did you witness this for?
10) Could/did the sun directly hit the orange clouds?
11) Since the takeoff, had you passed through clouds before this shot?
12) Did others witness this? ("cooo, look at the lovely orange cloud")

Many Thanks!
Mark.

[Indigo_Sunrise]

maybe it was one of those special planes decorated with the image of an SI cover model.....

apodman - LOL!!!! 8)

*ahem*

Now back to our regularly scheduled original topic/question....

[rusty0101]

Time of day, 8:07 pm local in September, would suspect that what the photographer got was clouds being illuminated by the setting sun, from below the cloud deck.

[PaulBeedle]

It looks like it could be a Parry Arc, observed from the sky. The following website shows pictures of a Parry Arc in Belgium and England: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz121.htm. These pictures were taken when the sun was low on September 21, 2008, similar to the time of day and year of the photo under discussion.

[zorglub421]

Where I live, switzerland, this could even not be a sunset reflection, but a sunset ray in a low density cloud. There are mountains east and west, it may be that the sunset ray is fairly narrow. The upper right corner is dubious though, seems the ray should be impossibly narrow.
So a sunset reflection, or an UFO

[Drabkikker]

Hello there,

Personally I think it's not likely that we're dealing with a window reflection here. No doubt the observer would have thought of that, and checked it by moving his head to and fro to see if the phenomenon appeared to 'move along' with him or remain stationary in relation to the background. As already noted by the commenters, the top part of the glowing structure has a distinct cloud-like border, which leads me to assume that they are in fact clouds.
Judging from the information that the picture was taken in a northwestern direction and assuming the picture was indeed taken at sunset, I would say that the photo was taken more or less in the direction of the sun. This seems to be confirmed by the direction of what is visible of any ground shadows, suggesting the sun is to be thought somewhere off to the left outside the frame of the picture.

These considerations make me tend to agree with the original photographer's observation that the effect might be caused by light of the setting sun reflected / refracted by falling rain. More precisely, it could be a form of 'Zero Order Glow', a bright orange glow in the surroundings of the sun caused by the refraction of light through water drops.

Dirk Bakker,
The Netherlands


Edit: Ah, I see this was already suggested by Qev.

[Dexter]

There are many visual anomolies seen through the layers of plexiglass on aircraft windows. This one looks like some of the refraction errors I have seen, although they usually have a greater variety of colors. The camera may have filtered some of that out. My son declares that what we are seeing here is the molecules of horse methane being excited by low angle sunbeams. How can you argue with that?

[gregg07]

This is a bit of purged jet fuel being burned off behind the jet engines...

[neufer]

Cut and paste the following jpg to see Red Sea Monsters:
http://image36.webshots.com/37/3/20/99/ ... PvO_ph.jpg
Unusual Red Sea Monsters Off Of Honolulu!!

My first thought was also that this is a simple sunset reflection. I don't know the orientation of the photograph, but my suspicion is that the photo was taken with the sun very low on the horizon, west being toward the lower right hand side of the photo.

Explanation: the phenomenon could just be a peculiar window reflection. the image was captured on 2002 September 23 at about 8:07 pm in the evening (local time), and that the camera was reported to be pointing north of west at that time.

I go for the starboard window reflection of a sunset streaming through two forward port windows
(with seats obstructing the bottom of the port window sunset reflections and
a window shade obstructing the top of the left most [i.e., forward most] port window sunset reflection.)