There must have been enough dust particles in the air to catch the shadow -- my guess, Joe --- On Mon, 5/18/09, Corr, Tom <TCorr@co.linn.or.us> wrote: From: Corr, Tom <TCorr@co.linn.or.us> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Unusual shadow? To: "Utah Astronomy" <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Monday, May 18, 2009, 4:16 PM Yesterday, as I was driving, I noticed out my front windscreen what appeared to be a column of smoke rising from the ground well into the sky about 10 degrees to the left of my forward vision. The thing that initially struck me was it was very vague and hard to see. I first had to ensure that I was really seeing it. Secondly, the two sides of the column (of smoke) were perfectly square and the two sides remained for its entire distance parallel. I noticed in the blue sky overhead a jet contrail. The Sun was directly above the contrail. I have never seen a contrail shadowed in the atmosphere near the ground. While I was flying a plane above a cloud layer, I have seen contrail shadows cast onto the tops of the clouds. But this one did not appear to be cast onto any "surface." It appeared to be vertically suspended in the noontime air. Any help? Perhaps it was an illusion. Hopefully the answer is easier that the questions raised about Albireo. ;-) Thomas N. Corr Linn County Legal Counsel PO Box 100, Albany OR 97321 541.967.3840 Fax 541.928.5424 tcorr@co.linn.or.us <mailto:tcorr@co.linn.or.us> The information contained in this e-mail message is information protected by attorney-client and/or the attorney/work product privilege. It is intended only for use of the individual named above and the privileges are not waived by virtue of this having been sent by electronic mail transmission. If the person actually receiving this e-mail or any other reader of this message is not the named recipient or the employee or agent responsible to deliver it to the named recipient, any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of the communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please please advise me immediately by reply e-mail, keep the contents confidential, and immediately delete the message and any attachments from your system. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com