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

[Redbone]

I suspect that this is something similar to the following image, only more localized and seen from 3000'.

[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!!

Possible explanations:

1) Red Tide

2) Red Giant Squid

3) Rare False Sunrise

[bystander]

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!!

Possible explanations:

1) Red Tide

2) Red Giant Squid

3) Rare False Sunrise

Or these!

[zbvhs]

I saw no mention of the type of camera that was used. If it was a film camera, is it possible the film was light-struck before or during processing?

[joinpep]

The casual spectral wavelength resembles that of atmospheric nitrogen(NOx) perhaps in consort with the seting sun and/or aurora borealis. (btw There is an Air Products facility, not far away, by the airport.)

[section_8]

I would like to know if the submitter of the photograph was flying Northwest Airlines. Since Minneapolis is their hub there would be a good chance of this. If so the tail of a northwest jet is red in color and since these are clouds that we are looking at and the background clouds are not lit by the sun coming through I think it might be a reflection off the tail of the jet. Considering the angle of the jet by the description of the angle of the camera and the orientation of the ground the tail would make one really nice big reflector and if the sun is at the right angle you would get the atmospheric phenomenon we photographers call golden light hitting the plane making the color go from red to orange. Just a thought considering this is one of the reasons professional photographers wear the color black we call it color contamination.

DA

[rr_carroll]

The bright arc at lower left strongly resembles the curved corner of the metal band between panes of an airplane window. The right half of the reflected window is silhouetted by a seat back, probably. Too bad we can't see the window corner of the one we're looking through. Are there other shots from the same flight?

[duncan]

Orientation. The four lane highway (Shakopee bypass, US169) shown at a roughly 45 degree in the photo, runs very, very close to east/west. The track is to the north of the highway.

[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!!

Possible explanations:

1) Red Tide
2) Red Giant Squid
3) Rare False Sunrise

Or these!

Big Red usually sits atop his throne at Teide Observatory "phoning home" for the invasion.

[TRL]

Here is the picture of the sept./08 (SUNRISE) I mentioned in my post on page three. Pre-dawn The (effect) lasted only a few minutes. Facing due east. Note the Bright ball at tree top level right is not the sun. It is a street lamp two houses east and across the street from me.

[PaulBeedle]

I thought this was a more serious and moderated forum when I signed up yesterday. When APOD put the picture up for suggestions, I figured they saw something real and were hoping for some useful suggestions rather than non-related hoaxes. Anyway....

I believe there is something real in the photo too. Yesterday I posted a suggestion that it was a Parry Arc, but I could barely find my listing over the hoots surrounding it. Since others have added pictures, I will add the following pictures that were copyrighted by David Johnson & Jorgen Ravoet. If you have a hard time seeing them, check out the URL: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz121.htm.

Here are the pictures:

Compare these ground-based pictures of Parry Arcs to the image in APOD. I believe this is an aerial view of a Parry Arc colored by a sun that had just set.

Paul

[Redbone]

Paul, I don't think that there could be any ice crystals in the clouds over Minneapolis, at 3000', on September 23rd. It is possible but highly unlikely as the air temperature would be too high. I would also expect to see other colors besides orange associated with a Parry Arc. Just my thoughts.

[Drabkikker]

It looks like it could be a Parry Arc, observed from the sky.

I believe this is an aerial view of a Parry Arc colored by a sun that had just set.

Hi Paul,

I do not entirely understand what you mean by a Parry arc 'observed from the sky'. Do you imply that being in the sky would give you a closer look at the arc than it would if you were on the ground? This sounds a bit like trying to get closer to a rainbow, which is of course impossible.

However this may be, why specifically a Parry arc? Why not a circumzenithal arc, or a supralateral arc, which are much more common and have far brighter colours? Even so, I don't think they get as dazzlingly bright orange as this, and with all the other spectrum colours filtered out entirely. More importantly, as Redbone noted, it is not very likely that ice crystals form at such a low altitude: these clouds (if that is what they are) in all probability consist of liquid water, which prevents them from causing ice halo effects.

Best,

Dirk

[neufer]

I thought this was a more serious and moderated forum when I signed up yesterday.

The Asterisk* WAS a more serious and moderated forum when you signed up yesterday
...but that was yesterday and yesterday's gone.

When APOD put the picture up for suggestions, I figured they saw something real and were hoping for some useful suggestions rather than non-related hoaxes.

I figured they saw something confusing and were hoping for some useful suggestions.
"MikeAtHRI" provided a very sensible suggestion to which I concurred:

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.

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.)

Perhaps, you can explain why you think that your suggestion make more sense than this.

[earlyflyer]

Who knows what the glow is, but the discussion here is great!

[ghellquist]

Sorry, I got tired of doing logical reasonings based on personal experience piloting in similar wheather conditions. Withdraws from discussion.

// Gunnar

[TRL]

The discussion is great and many explainations as a collective are viable. Since my first post I have changed my initial opinion. I have offered the two photos in support of what Mr. Blessing had photographed. I have gone to many links offered by fellow posters and have definately enriched my thought processes.

[Mr Stephen Lint]

The dirty red cloud is the result of the chemtrails operations, one of which was actually called operation red sky, I started seeing the sky here (in 2000) in redding ca have the same red reflections at sunrise & sunset, one cannot rely on the old sayings red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in morning sailor take warning because of this. in 1998 the EPA lowered the visabilty standards from 40 miles down to just 10 miles of visability, the point is that all clouds have this same red tinge to them at sunrise/sunset anymore, our blue skies are being replaced with this red tinted crud.

there's a red tinted cloud in this vid clip

OPERATION RED SKY-CHEMTRAILS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0-2VyDMhPM

[cardetective]

Looks like the red glow from the auto focus reflecting back into the camera lens from window.

[geckzilla]

Wow, I had no idea this photo could generate so much discussion. My two cents is that it is the same effect as one may see in one of those water light shows. Shine a colored beam in a spray of water and you'll be able to see the light in the water droplets. The colored beam in this case simply being a sun very near the horizon sending deep orange hues into the rain falling from the clouds. I definitely agree with photographer's the original suggestion. I imagine if one were inside the rain it would not be visible because up close the droplets are much too diffuse.

Reminds me of how I imagine flying near or into a dusty nebula in space. I imagine it much differently than they depict it in movies because I figure when up close to them they're much too diffuse and large to see clearly.

[alientro]

I can spot my house from there! wow its like I am part of APOD! (Big fan!)
I can tell you this about the area. It is well known for the constant and consistent displays of rainbows. The lower right of the picture continues on to a river and marsh land. The upper left up to horizon is flat prairie land other than some developments that you can see.

[Drabkikker]

The dirty red cloud is the result of the chemtrails operations, one of which was actually called operation red sky, I started seeing the sky here (in 2000) in redding ca have the same red reflections at sunrise & sunset, one cannot rely on the old sayings red sky at night sailors delight, red sky in morning sailor take warning because of this. in 1998 the EPA lowered the visabilty standards from 40 miles down to just 10 miles of visability, the point is that all clouds have this same red tinge to them at sunrise/sunset anymore, our blue skies are being replaced with this red tinted crud.

there's a red tinted cloud in this vid clip

OPERATION RED SKY-CHEMTRAILS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0-2VyDMhPM

Dear Mr Stephen Lint,

Did you know they also put stuff in our drinking water that causes rainbows?
We Need To Act Now.

- sigh -

Dirk

PS. Why do conspiracists always seem to have trouble holding their camera still?

[PaulBeedle]

Thank you for the challenges to my hypothesis. I appreciate the alternative explanations, because I am also bothered by the thought of the low-altitude, September formation of the kind of ice crystals needed to create a Parry Arc. However, from experience (which must always be challenged with factual measurements), I have seen things in the Minnesota/Ontario skies that I have seen nowhere else. This experience led me to believe the words of the person who took the photograph:

huge curved sheets of glowing light extending from cloud to ground

I believe there was much more going on than the snapshot could capture. What the photograph showed besides a glow was an arc. Here is how my reasoning led to a Parry Arc.

• 1. I have been inside an aurora on the ground in Ontario, and the picture and words reminded me of that experience. I didn't think it possible to see auroral light during twilight, but I wanted to eliminate the possibility, because 2002 was an active solar season. I eliminated (thank goodness) this option, because the 23rd was a lull in the period when the atmosphere was being buffered by a solar wind stream.

• 2. September is fickle in Minnesota. I have limited research tools and time, but what I could find showed that there was a sharp drop in temperature in Minnesota. The temperatures going into the 23rd of September had dropped dramatically - about 25 degrees from 3 days earlier, implying a cold front had passed through. I need better information than just looking at temperature charts. Someone else posted that it was rainy. My hypothesis took that information along with the picture to think that a cold front had finally taken control - enough to allow sunlight through and enough to create a limited amount of ice crystals.

• 3. The examples of Parry Arc's showed filaments as well as clouds. The arc in the APOD picture resembled the Parry Arc. The other features (as well as the photographer's description) would be from the glow of a combination of water vapor and ice - but not liquid water.

Thanks for considering these ideas. I welcome challenges. I won't be hurt by thoughtful critisism. In fact I would be relieved to find a good explanation why this hypothesis is impossible. I still need to research:

Why not a circumzenithal arc, or a supralateral arc, which are much more common and have far brighter colours?

Thanks.


Paul Beedle, Minnesota

[Drabkikker]

• 1. I have been inside an aurora on the ground in Ontario, and the picture and words reminded me of that experience.

How exactly do you mean inside an aurora on the ground? Since auroras do not normally form below an altitude of 100 km, I wonder what it could have been that you experienced.

• 3. The examples of Parry Arc's showed filaments as well as clouds. The arc in the APOD picture resembled the Parry Arc. The other features (as well as the photographer's description) would be from the glow of a combination of water vapor and ice - but not liquid water.

a. Is it possible to provide us with a link to the pictures you have seen? I am very curious what they show.
b. What is the reason you think liquid water is not involved? Couldn't the "huge sheets of glowing light from cloud to ground" have been falling rain showers, refracting the light of the setting sun to cause the aformentioned zero order glow?

Best,

Dirk

[craterchains]

Looks like the red glow from the auto focus reflecting back into the camera lens from window.

, , , best answer I have read.

Norval L. Cunningham
http://www.earthsbanner.com