Forums Forums Wirral Information Ask - Wiki Wirral Red trails in the night sky - what are they?

I came in not long ago and poured a glass of red and as it's a nice night wandered into the back garden, I took a seat and was looking at the sky wondering if I could see any shooting stars so I turned the kitchen light off and sat for a while.I live in Eastham and was looking towards the motorway and when my eyes became accustomed to the dark I could see four red lines in the sky that look like comet trails but don't appear to be moving at all.I downloaded a compass app. on my phone and the direction appeared to be 205 degrees SW. has anyone else seen this or know what causes it. It was still there when I came in.

My bet is high altitude aircraft contrails. I think the reason you saw them as red rather than white is that they were illuminated by the setting sun, which happens later if you are at a significantly higher altitude.

It happens with high flying clouds too sometimes, when they are called 'noctilucent' clouds. I think what you've seen is noctilucent contrails. You can see a selection of them at https://www.flickr.com/photos/35423990@N00/sets/72157600329483616/ These are evidently older and have dissipated and been distorted by the wind. I imagine yours, if they were straight, were more recent.

Thanks for the interesting pictures Excoriator I think you got it right the last picture in that seies resembles what I saw almost exactly so that solves that little mystery so thanks again for your input.

You'e welcome. Of course, it is possible that UFOs leave contrails too...

dead right,you will see loads of these trails (early morning ,clear sky). i think that they are test-pilots doing what must be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. imagine being the first passenger to fly in a new plane and someone forgot to tighten a few nuts up, cheers