In early evening just after sundown , whilst flying westbound in the Southern Ocean, a Shuttle flight orbited from Nw to Se.
It must have been pitched in the vertical plane with its tiled keel forward. Perhaps it was a lower orbit or just more ionospheric activity but the net result was a glow around the craft and a brilliant plume or rooster tail streaming miles above and aft.
It lasted a matter of minutes but was extraordinary.