Scenery in the night sky

[mikef]

Last night I saw a really great sunset from 27,000 and then during the course of the flight I counted about five or six shooting stars. I've also seen the Hubble telescope a couple of times now and find that fascinating.

Anyone out there seen any really interesting sights? I've heard stories about sailors seeing St Elmo's Fire. I thought some of you guys and gals out there could have seen some similar things.

[Lost_luggage34]

Don't know about seeing things at night. But definitely felt that earth tremor at 12:54am this morning !

[EGLD]

This year I was in Cyprus on holiday, in the hills overlooking Coral Bay, and we sat out by our pool the night of the big meteor shower

I'd only ever seen shooting stars that were very small, and very brief, but this night, aided by the REAL darkness and clear skies you get away from 'the smoke', we saw the real thing. These things crossed half the sky in a split second, christ knows how fast they were going.

We also just happened to glance over and see one that crossed near the horizon in around 2-3 seconds, it had an awesome pink trail behind it, and was quite literally the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. Like something out of the film Deep Impact of the asteroid burning up. So huge, and so clear, I really expected a huge explosion as it disappeared from view

Any pilots here that were up that night?

[canberra]

i remember one december night almost 20 years ago one of our sqn pilots saying that hed had st elmos fire round his pitot tube for about five minutes. virtually everyone asked him if hed managed to film it with the gun camera, he immediatley said- oh **** i was so mesmerised i forgot to switch it on!!

[CaptainSquelch]

Almost every sunset or sunrise is a jewel.
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky1.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky2.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky3.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky4.jpg
St Elmo's fire mostle happens at the same time there is turbulence. This does not improve the piccies.
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky5.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~keesjong/Extra/Sky6.jpg

[Max Angle]

Mikef,

If you are in UK what you are probably seeing is the International Space Station, Hubble is not visible from here due to it's orbit.
You can check out ISS and other sightings city by city at:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/SSapplications/Post/SightingData/sighting_index.html

[mikef]

CaptainSquelch. Loved the photos. I'm trying to get hold of a good digital camera to record some of the things out there. I've got a couple of good photos that I'll have to scan into the confuser and post em here.

Max Angle. Down in Australia and I look at a site called heavens-above.com and I've seen the Hubble a couple of times now. The ISS has been around lately but I'm yet to see it. Whenever I overnight out of the city I try a bit harder to see them cause the visibility isn't imparied by smoke and the like.

Just found some more great shots. Courtesy of Crash&Burn.

http://www.cosmic.com.au/whyIloveit/

[Crash & Burn]

MIKEF - thanks for bringing this thread to my attention - didn't know it existed!

I've seen St Elmos fire twice in my career. Both times I was on descent and flying through an area of recent thunderstorm activity. I tried to get some shots of it the first time when it occured fairly early on in the descent but all I got was black photos. The second time was fairly late on in the descent and we were a bit busy to start taking photos of it! - As CaptainSquelch mentions - it is usually accompnied by turbulence.

It's really awesome stuff to see. The F/O was using his finger to attract it to different points on the window - similar to those plasma balls you see in the shops.

Hope everyone enjoys the photos linked above in MikeF's post. I've got plently more around here somewhere. Just have to find the time to scan them in and put them online!

[Max Angle]

Mike,

Thanks for the heads-up on the website, what a great site. Found an explanation to the very bright lights I have seen in the sky from time to time, they are Iridium satellites.

I've seem some great St. Elmos over the years. I used to fly PA31's etc on pax. and cargo flights and a few times have had the outboard 6 inches of the prop disc shining very bright blue, very spectacular. Also once in 737 we had great sheets of blue flashes streaming off the conductor strips on the radome, it really looked like something out of a star wars film.

The best satellite viewing was a great horizon to horizon view of the ISS and the shuttle shortly after un-docking, they went across the sky about two thumb widths apart, even the cabin crew were impressed!.

[EGGD]

Yup,

On my way to Kenya I saw hundreds of electrical storms over north africa, from Tripoli to Namibia. I also saw a couple of meteors which was awesome, you get a great perspective from the sky and you are actually looking almost parallel to some, so you get a really good idea of where they are going. Also saw some aircraft close enough to see the tails lit up and all the passengers windows etc (Virgin atlantic and Air France).

Awesome!

Also, on a very clear night the sun was just rising, but the street lamps on the ground were still on and I got a brilliant view of Nice cote de zure airport from above lit up.

Wowoowow!

[mikef]

Glad you enjoyed the website. It works anywhere and passengers love stuff like that.

I remember when I was younger I flew with my Dad in an F28 and during electrical activity the windshield would get fingers of electricity arcing all over it. You could get it coming out of your fingers too. We turned all the cockpit lights off and got the flightie to come up the front. You could hear the scream on the ground!!

Another time we were flying up to Kuala Lumpur from Australia and a 767 went past us 2000ft above. It was a clear night with a near full moon. The moon lit up it's contrails really bright and then our beacon would make is shine red as well.

There aer some great things to be seen out there!

[Lost_luggage34]

EGLD - anywhere close to Kamares Village by chance ?

Have a place up there and have never got sufficiently motivated to try some private flying whilst there. Would be glad of any advice or suggestions.

Cheers

[javelin]

The A330 has some interesting characteristics in St Elmo's. It starts with the fan flashes across the screen, then builds with the engines glowing, then you get small square blue lights up the side window in the cockpit that move back and forth. Then it happens - the flames start off the reinforcing strips on the radome. Light, ice blue 'flames' go forward from the nose which is really spectacliar - last saw it into ACA after a large storm had passed through and there was loads of dust in the air.

Must stop eating those mushrooms :cool: :D

[criticalmass]

Back when Halley's Comet last visited I was on a bulk carrier in the North Pacific Ocean, headed to Japan. The nights were clear and after my evening watch I used to grab a pair of the bridge 7X50 binoculars and go out on the bridgewing to observe...all handheld of course as there was always a little rolling motion, even in almost flat calm seas.

Halley's was somewhat of a disapppointment for many. In the clear skies where I was it appeared as a bright smudge because we were seeing if more or less head-on, the tail being deflected away so it was greatly foreshortened.

One night it was particularly clear and I had been observing for about twenty minutes or so. My eyes were well dark-adjusted and I was starting to see rather faint objects which normally would have been very difficult to see. Suddenly a shooting star passed straight through the field of view of the binoculars and totally dazzled me. Blinding white sparks which vanished in less than a second. "Now there's something you don't see every day..."

Only every seen St Elmos fire once onboard, it was in Korea Strait during a wild storm where the rain was coming at us horizontally. I had finished the evening watch and gone up to the bridge to see where we were and have a cuppa when I saw an odd glow reflected in the inside of the bridgewings. I opened the side door and poked my head out into the vestibule which afforded some weather protection and looked up at one of my two main radio antennas, a vertical whip with sets of radials sloping upwards about halfway and two thirds of the way up its length.

The upper third of the antenna was outlined in a whitish halo of light, including the radials. It was still switched to the main transmitter and I was worried about possible static damage to the tuning unit so I went into the Radio OFfice and earthed the antenna. On going back to the bridge again I saw the St Elmos fire was still present. It faded shortly before we came out of the storm front.

[PAXboy]

Related point - I cannot recall what the St.Elmos effect is called when it is in the sea??

The very first time I went to the Carribbean and the very first night and the very first swim ... the phosphorescence was all around my finger tips. It was just fabulous. <Dreamy sigh as he remembers that holiday>

[steamchicken]

Not the same effect. Phosphoresence is caused by phosphorescent plankton in the water, and is chemical rather than electrical.