What am I looking at here?

[ArgusP]

Let's see if I can do this right. I was powering down to exit & the little "rays" caught my eye. The jets appeared to be in motion, but at that size it was hard to tell for a few seconds

and then it was gone

 

[Straha Yeagar]

Either Venus, or a weather balloon.

 

[Whitehair]

You had the local star targeted, and when you changed target to your next destination the hologram showing your target changed.

 

[Eros]

Looks like your own vapour trail, did you stop and do a 180?

 

[damon8r351]

Unless we're talking about the change in HUD graphics, that definitely looks like your own vapor trail.

 

[Major Klutz]

Agreed. IF you were not in supersruise and IF you had just done a 180 turn, that's your trail. It dissipates after a few seconds.

 

[Pirin]

Either Venus, or a weather balloon.

[haha]

 

[ArgusP]

I dunno, vapor trail in the foreground, but that "V"?

 

[Major Klutz]

The V is where the two trails from your two main engines converge in the distance.
You did do a 180 right? The trails dissipate and your V did disappear.

The trails appear more dense from further away making them easier to see at a distance than close up.
If you pull back to turn around, you flip over, and your trail will be above you. The two trails converge in the distance forming a V

 

[13A]

I'm not saying it's Thargoids, but............

 

[Jethro49]

Either Venus, or a weather balloon.

The V is where the two trails from your two main engines converge in the distance.
You did do a 180 right? The trails dissipate and your V did disappear.

So... that a chemtrail [alien]

 

[Rob At Work]

I need to change my glasses I cant see Jack

 

[Major Klutz]

So... that a chemtrail [alien]

Well, Helium is a chemical element, so I guess technically it is a trail of a chemical.
A trail of helium shouldn't really be visible, but super heated helium plasma would probably glow a bit.

 

[Orvidius]

Well, Helium is a chemical element, so I guess technically it is a trail of a chemical.
A trail of helium shouldn't really be visible, but super heated helium plasma would probably glow a bit.

Oh boy, this is where we could really go down the rabbit hole of what science would predict, vs what the game displays.

Heated gases tend to only emit visible black body radiation while under pressure, if I recall correctly. But then again, they only stay in nice little cloudy trails like that while in an atmosphere anyway. If the game handled it "correctly", we wouldn't see anything at all.

 

[ArgusP]

After several attempts I was able to recreate something similar by dropping from supercruise, FA off & flipping back. Regular vapor trails are much more diffuse, distinct and shorter-lived so it must represent the point of return to real-world physics. Given all the off-limits around here thought it might be something interesting happening in the Col 70 Sector. Anyway, squawk off from the WitchHead bubble:

 

[Orvidius]

I suspect if you were to flip around with a curved path, there's probably an "optimal" curvature that results in the trails being highly visible, inside of the arc. I've done this by accident before.