Thin Contrail Shadows

This sequence of images just 20 seconds apart shows how quickly a contrail shadow can change in appearance. These images were taken when the shadow was at its strongest, from the first hint of shadow till it disappeared was about 3 minutes.


A distant narrow contrail was perfectly lined up with the sun and seemed to cast it's shadow far ahead of the aircraft.	The closeup shows how good the alignment was, though this didn't last long.

Canon EOS 20D 3rd August 2006
Wiltshire, England