pics and for efficiency the text he wants to accompany it.
Finny’s comment:
A side-by-side comparison of these two photos shows how the same sunset angle will illuminate a column rising toward it differently than how it will illuminate a column passing over it.
In the contrail photo, as in the missile video or any still shots (that would be, photos! of the same), the sunlight is coming from below on the north west side, to the POV’s lower right. Look at how the side of the cylindrical column (although it has been flattened and scattered in places by high winds) that we can see, the side facing the ground as it passes five miles above the earth, is reflecting brilliant sunlight shining up at it.
The reflection is consistent from end to end of the contrail and width-wise comprises most of it, two thirds of the column’s width, generally. The part we see lit brightest is the side facing westerly, and the majority of the plume is being lit from below on the west side. We’re looking at the same side of the plume as the sun.
We cannot see the side of the column facing away from the sun because it is facing upward, toward the heavens. The only part of the column that’s in shadow that we can see from our POV is the east-facing side of the contrail — the left side of the column, from our POV.
The lighting happens this way because it is horizontal and we’re below it on the same level as the sun.
In the missile plume photo, about 2/3 the width of the plume column is in shadow, and about one third of it is brightly illuminated. That is the side of the column that we can see from our POV, and it looks that way because we are BEHIND it, not below it. The other side of the column is facing west; if we could move around and look at it, about 2/3 of it would be in sun and about one third in shadow.
But we’re behind it, looking westward. The shaded side of the column that we can see is NECESSARILY the part facing the opposite direction of the west setting sun. It is facing easterly. It’s vertical. The sun is looking at it from one side, and we’re looking at it from the other side.
On the contrail, the shadows tell us that it’s passing overhead and the sun is below it. On the vertical plume, the shadows tell us that the column is FACING the sun, and our POV is behind the column.
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One above the other is the best I could do, Finny. There isn't enough page room to post them side-by-side without shrinking the pics or forcing the viewer to scroll back and forth. - TE