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Old 5th May 2020, 10:26 PM
MikkiJayne MikkiJayne is offline
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I've also noticed a dramatic drop in the aircraft overhead. I'd normally see half a dozen in the air at any point when I go for a walk at lunchtime. Now there is just one in an hour - 4 engines, heading across the Atlantic. Nothing small heading in to Exeter since Flybe is toast. No military activity at all in the last month or so - normally there's quite a lot round here.

Typically, living on a hill in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution, it was cloudy when SpaceX launched the second batch of Starlink so I didn't see any of that

I did notice one fascinating phenomenon from the single daily flight a couple of weeks ago when the weather was bright but a few clouds around - the exhaust plume from the engines was clearly visible as a dark trail in the sky. I watched it separate from the vapour trail and drop steadily down and pass through some clouds until it eventually dispersed underneath them. I've never seen that before so I think it must be to do with the air being so much cleaner now. I thought it was an optical illusion or confirmation bias so I stopped watching it for a few minutes and then was easily able to spot it again. I guess normally this soot just blends in to the polluted atmosphere so is invisible.
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