Western Railroad Discussion > Speaking of UFO's

    Hi TO,
          A couple of weeks ago I stopped at the Albany,OR station to see a couple of PV cars on the rear of Amtrak #11. I hadn't noticed at the time but
 in the upper left corner of this view are some contrails, I thought. But looking a little closer at them they don't really look like aircraft contrails to me. Just
 that they appear to be heading down more than across the sky. I'm not sure but am curious what others think. I learned later that an asteroid had been
 seen in western Canada on this date, 11-19, and wondered if it could have something to do with that. I know that's a long way from where I was but with
 the rotation of the earth and the speed those things travel I thought it might be somehow related.

                            Thanks,
                               Jeff



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/22 06:26 by jefflocal.

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Well, 'contrails' is a verbal contraction of 'condensation trails'

In air planes, burning petroleum fuels results in two major exhaust gasses:
steam ( water vapor) & carbon dioxide.

One of tte products of combustion is H2O, so at the very cold air temperatures of
high altitudes, you'll get ice crystals as a result of burning jet fuel.

With cold ambient temperatures, at ground level, you'll see that moisture from auto exhausts,
as well as steam locomotives...

The steam loco exhausts, up the stack are from several sources: the firebox flames,
the supplemental draft (manual, steam-jet) up the stack, controlled by tte fireman,
and exhausted steam blown into the air, from the cylinders that powered the pistons.

So, locos like the 4449, when cruising, leave very distinct & dramatic 'contrails'.

I'm guessing that meteors' high entrance velocities, and incandescence ( burning)
also produces the carbon dioxide-and-water vapor cloud, and thus, the erratic, non-horizontal,
trails of frozen water vapor in the sky..  
i'd bet that the two types contrails occur at vastly different altitudes..

I hadn't paid attention to that possibility, before ..

A third possibility, is that in the photo, the "errant trail" is caused by upper level 
wind cross-currents.  That the ragged trail would be straight, in the absence of wind currents.
Again, the disparity in the the photo might be caused by the planes flying at different
altitudes.
 
Thanks for your picture..

​W.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/22 19:47 by wcamp1472.

It good to have an open mind, just not so open that your brain falls out.

Thanks for the info W, much appreciated.

Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting we've been invaded by aliens lol, these just looked a little odd to me. Just for reference
these streams would have been close to or right above Interstate 5. If there had been anything really unusual going on somebody's
phone or dashcam would have caught it. This area is way too populated for something odd in the sky to sneak by, especially in
the daytime. I'm sure this is only a UFO to me.

                 Thanks,
                     Jeff

Interesting photo but I'm thinking these are conventional contrails but have been distorted by high altitude winds...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

regular contrails at different altitudes

Lots of those where I live with several airports and a spaceport...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Yes, we see these often over the plains of Wyoming and Colorado