Last night at about 6:15 pm, I noticed this super bright pink line in the sky. It was almost exactly N<->S. I’m in the Space Coast, Florida if that helps. I’ve never seen plane contrails look like this. Weird thing is that it almost looked like if the area in the center of the line was ionized, plasma-like. Unfortunately the camera didn’t pick up how vivid the line was. In another picture it almost seems like the line makes a 90 degree turn due east at the northern tip of it.
I thought maybe a meteor since there was that Taurid shower a few days but I don’t know if meteors fall N to S and if they ionize clouds like that. I don’t know if that actually is even ionization. We also have a lot of aerospace research companies here so who knows if it could be that?
Hoping someone can chime in with what it might be.
I’m not a meteorologist, but I do know a thing or two about plasma.
Plasma is very short lived. Think on the order of microseconds at atmospheric pressures. So unless there was a massive linear source of power along the whole length, this isn’t plasma.
The visual effects probably have to do with the fact that the sun was very low. I’m guessing the particle size distribution in that line is notably different from the size of particles in the clouds surrounding it, leading to much stronger reflection of evening light.
I am curious as to the meteoroligical explanation for the line though.
Makes sense about plasma being short lived. It was just so close to the color I imagine an aurora to be along with the glow. I mentioned in another comment but I’m gonna look at the flight paths near here at that time to see if something comes up.