"Fireball" filmed in Stockholm [Sunlit Contrail]

[Trailblazer]

Seen on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/alertachil...260138990451/1705302796352850/?type=2&theater

Here is the video:



No detail of the time, but it looks like close to sunset or sunrise.

 

[Trailblazer]

Assuming it was shot in the evening: sunset on the day in question was at 2.47pm in Stockholm, which is 1.47pm UTC, and was on a bearing of 222 degrees (roughly SW).

The trail seems to be lit from behind, implying the sun is off to the left of the flight path, but I'm not sure if the bright reflection on the plane itself fits that angle.

This is one possible contender.

 

[Trailblazer]

This appears to be the original version of the video:


The uploader says it was shot around 14:36 (13:36UTC).

So probably not DY1073.

This Air France flight is another possibility:

Or could it even have been filmed facing away from the sunset? There is a red glow on the horizon but it might not be the sunset itself. In which case this BA flight might be the one?

(I'm eliminating the other two planes to the west of the city as they were taking off from Stockholm)

 

[Trailspotter]

From how the plane and its trail are lit by the setting Sun, they are definitely on the same side of the sky as the Sun. I think that DY1073 is the only possible candidate and that the camera clock is just slow by about 10 minutes.

 

[Trailblazer]

From how the plane and its trail are lit by the setting Sun, they are definitely on the same side of the sky as the Sun. I think that DY1073 is the only possible candidate and that the camera clock is just slow by about 10 minutes.

Yes I think that is more likely. From taking similar photos myself, I think this was a few minutes after sunset - the contrast between sunlit contrail and darker surroundings only becomes that vivid once the sun has set (or at least sunk below the visible horizon, which can of course occur earlier than the actual sunset time).

And I agree about the light direction, on reflection. (No pun intended )

 

[Trailspotter]

On second thought, AF275 is more likely candidate than DY1073. The darker strip near the tip of the contrail probably is a self shadow, which suggests the contrail is directed straight toward the Sun. I've downloaded the tracks of both flights from flightaware and displayed them in Google Earth. The AF275 track gives a far better match to the trail, when observed from Stockholm suburbs situated farther from the trail than the city centre:

If the camera location were known, we could test this suggestion by adding a video frame to Google Earth:

Or, perhaps, we could search for the location of the two spires in the video using the track as a guide.

 

[Trailblazer]

If the camera location were known, we could test this suggestion by adding a video frame to Google Earth

The video uploader states that the camera clock is correct, and this was the location (small red X just above the o of "Stockholm").

I am having trouble matching that rather vague location up to the foreground spires though.

 

[Mick West]

The AF275 track gives a far better match to the trail, when observed from Stockholm suburbs situated farther from the trail than the city centre:

Tracks can sometimes be radically different from trails, as in this example:
http://contrailscience.com/los-angeles-missile-contrail-explained-in-pictures/

Even more extreme when viewed more head-on

 

[Whitebeard]

As always nice detective work guys, you lot never cease to amaze me. The only info missing is the colour of the co-pilots socks (I'm guessing black)

One thing I can add is that is not a 'fireball'. I was lucky enough to see on at night back in the summer whilst I was at the annual Solarsphere music and astronomy festival in Wales. It started traveling at the speed of a normal 'shooting star' but got steadily brighter and brighter, turning from white to a red / orange colour and then flash very brightly and vanished to the cheers of several hundred stargazers. The whole thing last less than 4 or 5 seconds.

 

[Mick West]

View attachment 16756
Or, perhaps, we could search for the location of the two spires in the video using the track as a guide.

The one on the left seems like Santa Clara Kyrkas Vanner. But the churches round there have similar designs.

 

[Trailspotter]

The one on the left seems like Santa Clara Kyrkas Vanner. But the churches round there have similar designs.

I found a probable line of sight between the two spires:

Left: Oscar's Church

Right: Gustaf Adolf Church

The orange line is the AF275 track. If there was a westerly high-altitude wind, the contrail would form a less angle with the horizon.

Update:
According to the forecast, the wind was north westerly (right across the flight path), and the plane would have just entered the area of 100% humidity forming a persistent contrail:

 

[Trailblazer]

The orange line is the AF275 track. If there was a westerly high-altitude wind, the contrail would form a less angle with the horizon.

This is the 300mb wind chart for the approximate time in question (actually 90 minutes before).

Stockholm was on the edge of a quite strong northwesterly jet streak at 300mb.

Would it be possible to simulate the angle produced by the trail being blown southeast at, say, 100km/h and overlay it on the image?

 

[Trailspotter]

Stockholm was on the edge of a quite strong northwesterly jet streak at 300mb.

Would it be possible to simulate the angle produced by the trail being blown southeast at, say, 100km/h and overlay it on the image?

Done. I've drawn a line at 6.5° to the track from the 1:36 PM point. The perspective shortening greatly increased the apparent angle:

Everything fits nicely for the culprit being AF275 flight. Also, I've updated my previous post.

 

[Trailblazer]

I left a message on the video comments with a link to this thread. The video uploader "kootallica" has been helpful with providing further info.

 

[TEEJ]

Another sunlit contrail video doing the rounds.

09/19/15 Video taken in Snowflake, AZ between 6 - 7 a.m. this morning

 

[Trailspotter]

Another sunlit contrail video doing the rounds.

09/19/15 Video taken in Snowflake, AZ between 6 - 7 a.m. this morning

This almost certainly was a FedEx B767 leaving a broken, possibly aerodynamic contrail at sunrise:

Curiously, when a female voice at 0:22 says it is not a plane, a faint reflection from the plane can be seen in the nascent first gap.

 

[TEEJ]

Thanks, Trailspotter.

Sunlit contrails seem to be doing the rounds! One from Australia. I have asked the uploader for a time.

Published on 18 Dec 2015
Sangstar1 News Update. UFO craft seen over Greenvale Victoria Australia Space 19/12/15.

 

[Trailspotter]

Thanks, Trailspotter.

Sunlit contrails seem to be doing the rounds! One from Australia. I have asked the uploader for a time.

Published on 18 Dec 2015
Sangstar1 News Update. UFO craft seen over Greenvale Victoria Australia Space 19/12/15.

It's a tough one, but I have found a probable camera location in Greenvale and the line of sight - north of west. When the camera moves down after zooming in, it catches a bit of a road with a tree on one side and electricity pylons on the other:

The camera location is farther back on a higher ground on the left side of the road. As the viewing direction is against the sun, the video was taken around sunset. The orange hue of the trail suggest a probable time 20-25 minutes before the sunset that on the date was at 09:41 UTC.

Greenvale is very close the Melbourne Airport. All commercial flights appear to originate or terminate here, FR24 playback showed no flights over Greenvale at contrail altitudes at the time. However, there is a possibility of a distant contrail left by a flight from Melbourne going in a westerly direction. If this was the case, the most likely candidate is SIA208 that was in a right direction 87 miles away at about 9:25 UTC:

The only problem is that it was just at 25,000 ft at the time, which is rather low for the exhaust contrail. However, if there was a very high humidity at this altitude east of Melbourne, an aerodynamic contrail could have been formed. The relative humidity forecast at 500hPa suggests it could be the case.

 

[Trailblazer]

Message from the uploader of the Stockholm video: it looks like @Trailspotter was spot on with the location:

I took a look at the forum you mentioned and those guys seem very helpful as well. I've put together some information (in the form of images) regarding the area where the sighting took place... and if you're still interested in it I'd like to share the pictures with you. Please feel free to share them with the other members of your forum as well.

Here are some images which may help to pinpoint the area better.

Best of luck to you guys, thank you for all your help, and please feel free to keep me updated if you'd like.

 

[Trailspotter]

Message from the uploader of the Stockholm video: it looks like @Trailspotter was spot on with the location:

Good. There was no suitable Google Streetview to pintoint the exact location, but there is a Panoramio photo on my probable line of sight (and near the actual viewpoint) with the two spires on the background: