Autumnal Glow: Newsletter Challenge (December 2014)

Most likely the larger one of the Megallenic clouds, two dwarf galaxies in our local group. I have not checked the direction or elevation, but it could be lowish in a south-eastern direction, I think.

If by "Megallenic" you mean that they are way bigger than usual....

Neah, can't see the clouds of Magellen from more then 20 degrees north!

Pity, because it is a significantly mysterious sight on a moonless night with good 'seeing' in my quarter of the globe.

-J

One of my 'bucket list' items is to see the Magellanic Clouds some day.

Neither Magellanic cloud is visible from Nantucket's latitude (41.3° N). Both are well below (at least twenty degrees below) the horizon at any time of day at that latitude. Those living south of 20° N are luckier.

Yup. I realized that way back in #6 or 7. I'm so used to looking for them when conditions are good here in the South.

You lucky dog. I've never seen them.

The Magellanic Clouds are not visible from Nantucket (northeastern USA), but you already knew that.

Fishing fleet coming home with horray and lights on indicating a good catch.

Ask Netmaker!

I'm going for diffraction of sunlight around the moon, creating a locally brighter area of sky in front of the apparent disk of the moon, just below the horizon.

(Maybe even an annular eclipse just below the horizon.)

The squid fisheries bright lights used to attract plankton and small bait fish the squid feed on.

Shrimp Boats

That's my guess. GA

Would they be noctilucent clouds?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

A passenger liner on its way to New York?

Maybe the loom of a squid fleet.

Man overboard!

A predawn stroll on a beach looking east. It sounds like a wisp of a view of Venus as viewed sitting on the edge of the horizon of sky and ocean.

On second thought I give a GA to the dust cloud.

How about a mirage the light bouncing off the ocean and then the clouds /fog

If it is a new moon and the sun is going to rise in an hour or so (pre dawn) then the further east you travel the more of the illuminated half of the moon you will see. At some point near the horizon the light which is being reflected from the moon may be strong enough to illuminate some low clouds or fog over the sea giving rise to the glow.

BobD wrote "If it is a new moon and the sun is going to rise in an hour or so (pre dawn) then the further east you travel the more of the illuminated half of the moon you will see. At some point near the horizon the light which is being reflected from the moon may be strong enough to illuminate some low clouds or fog over the sea giving rise to the glow."

This is a GOOD ANSWER as far as I am concerned.

On reflection I think my answer was incorrect. the distance to the moon is over 50 times the radius of the earth so there would be no appreciable difference to how much of the sunlit side of the moon is visible if you travelled east unless you travelled into space.

It would be airglow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow

Although USBPort has the correct scientific answer, I prefer to think Lee is walking with his doomed lover, Juliet, and is seeing the false dawn.

Just a place holder so I get a message when the answer is posted.

Have a great day all!

I'm sure you are right George, known as Earthlight by some.

John.

Since Nantucket Island is about as far to the east as one can be in Massachusetts, I presume Lee is seeing is the reaction of oxygen in the stratosphere being illuminated by UV light, to make ozone, and this reacts with another oxygen atom to form ¹ΔO_2^* being formed which then fluoresces. Actually I have no idea, but I like the way that sounds.

Kennedy bashing, are we?

You make me want to ask for a redo. :)

Lee saw what "seems to be the soft glow of light pollution from a city off in the distance." That doesn't sound like earthshine to me. Earthshine shows a distinct view of the moon ie a circle, not a "soft glow of light pollution". What will give a loom like a distant city is a fleet of fishing boats using extremely strong lights. Squidders use that method and other fishermen may well do too.

Another guess please.

suppose Lee is seeing planktonic bioluminescent organisms in "large" area, near surface, and there is fog offshore to scatter the glow.

Alright, who is the Ahole who marked my last guess off-topic. That was un-called for.

The original post indicates a phenomenon related to autumn and/or a new moon. Fishing lights, everyday rising suns, and bioluminescence do not qualify, and are thus OT. I'm not sure that even zodiacal light qualifies, either.

Zodiacal Light follows the path of the Sun along it's yearly path. As the seasons change, so does the inclination of the zodiac before sunrise and after sunset. During autumn in the northern hemisphere, the zodiac (and zodiacal light) is at the greatest inclination to the horizon, in the dark before sunrise.

How about the obvious? The light of the not yet risen sun....

My first guess would be a HAARP induced plasma ball.

http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2013/nrl-scientists-produce-densest-artificial-ionospheric-plasma-clouds-using-haarp

I've been losing myself lately in chemtrails aerosol spraying of aluminum/barium mixtures, Tesla's confiscated papers, and the HAARP project. I'm a little worried.

Today I watched another NC blue sky turn artificially white. From cloudless to this, (maintained all day long), within a few hours. By the end of the day there is no blue sky, and the sun shines through milk.

Probably not the answer they were looking for, but not OT either. Yes, the good folks at HAARP can, and do, create and maintain glowing areas in the sky. Denial is a little silly, since they have done news releases on the technology.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NRL_Scientists_Produce_Densest_Artificial_Ionospheric_Plasma_Clouds_Using_HAARP_999.html

You might have a point if they phased such alleged experiments to match the time of a new moon. Until then, if not forever, OT.

New moon is similar to solar eclipse?

"Weather balloons" That is what they always turn out to be.

first morning light

reflections from moons surface

a policeman in the mixer?

Aliens, it's always aliens.

Since it is a new moon, and stars are clearly visible, I would suggest it is pre dawn light from the pending sunrise which happens well before sunrise. The conditions are: predawn, east side of Nantucket. It is a familiar sight to me.

It is Gegenschein (German for "countershine") a faint brightening of the night sky in the region of the antisolar point due to dust particles in the plane of the planets (elciptic).

The phenomenon in question is toward the solar point, not the antisolar point.

It could be the phenomena of St. Elmos Fire about a ship at sea or a large colony of phosphorescent micro-organisms.

Lee is seeing the Zodiacal Light - a reflection on sunlight off of the dust left over from the creation of the solar system.

"It is a new moon and Lee is taking a predawn stroll on a beach on the east side of Nantucket admiring the stars. As he looks out over the Atlantic Ocean, he notices what seems to be the soft glow of light pollution from a city off in the distance. Presently, the light takes on the shape of the searchlight on a Trident class submarine and a small inflatable boat heading towards him. The boat reaches the shore at his feet and a voice calls out, "Are you the man from Nantucket"?

By George you've done it, the first clean version of "Man from Nantucket" !

Clearly the light is coming from a squid fishing boat (or fleet of boats) working over the horizon. They use very bright lights shinning into the water to attract the squid which are then caught on an endless line fitted with squid lures.

Phosphorescent/Bioluminescent Plankton

something like that?