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noctilucent clouds

Mysterious Noctilucent Clouds as Seen from the International Space Station

June 25, 2012

Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter Mysterious “night shining” or noctilucent clouds are beautiful to behold, and this stunning image offers an unusual view of these clouds as seen by astronauts on board the International Space Station. Also called polar mesospheric clouds, these clouds are puzzling scientists [...]

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Astrophoto: Noctilucent Clouds by Brendan Alexander

June 19, 2012

It’s Noctilucent Cloud season! And Brendan Alexander in Donegal Ireland captured this beautiful view on the morning of June 18, 2012. “The skies cleared before dawn and I was treated to the best Noctilucent Cloud display I have seen this season so far,” Brendan said on Flickr. We’ve featured Brendan’s work many times on Universe [...]

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It’s Time to Welcome Night Shining Clouds

May 3, 2012

Astronomers usually curse and shake their fist at clouds for obscuring the sky and spoiling their observations. This month however, we enter the season when, after dark, thin veils of clouds appear to glow with an eerie blue light and are eagerly awaited and sought after. Remove this ad

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Getting a Handle on How Much Cosmic Dust Hits Earth

March 30, 2012

Does Earth have a dust build-up problem? Estimates vary of how much cosmic dust and meteorites enter Earth’s atmosphere each day, but range anywhere from 5 to 300 metric tons, with estimates made from satellite data and extrapolations of meteorite falls. Thing is, no one really knows for sure and so far there hasn’t been [...]

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A Noctilucent Masterpiece

August 8, 2011

Night-shining “noctilucent” clouds create a magical glow in the night skies over Reykjavíc, Iceland in this beautiful photo by Örvar Atli Þorgeirsson, taken on August 6. In the foreground is “The Sun Voyager” (Sólfar), an iconic steel sculpture located on the city waterfront representing a Viking ship. Örvar did not set out to photograph this rare atmospheric [...]

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