Invasion of the Noctilucent Clouds

By Nancy Atkinson - July 15, 2009 at 10:40 AM UTC | Planetary Science
Mike-Hollingshead1.jpg

[/caption] Be on the lookout for unusual – and beautiful – noctilucent clouds that are invading the North American and Europe.

SpaceWeather.com

says that these mysterious "night shining" clouds are on the increase. Some scientists think they're seeded by space dust. Others suspect they're a telltale sign of global warming. Whatever the reason, they are an amazing site, appearing around sunset. Mike Hollingshead took this gorgeous image on July 14 near Blair, Nebraska USA. "I've never seen noctilucent clouds before, even though I am often out looking," he said. "These were wonderful."

See below for another NLC image from my good buddy Stuart Atkinson in the UK:

[caption id="attachment_34871" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Stuart Atkinson's image of NLCs near Kendal Castle in the UK. Credit: Stuart Atkinson"]

[/caption]

Stu took his NLC images (

see more on his website Cumbrian Sky

) in mid-June near historic Kendal Castle in the UK (one of Henry the 8th's wives lived there, Stu says).

SpaceWeather.com has

a great gallery of NLCs

, which also includes observing tips. The site says reports of these clouds are pouring in from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, central California and possibly northern Nevada. These sightings are significant because they come from places so far south.

When noctilucent clouds first appeared in the late 19th century, they were confined to latitudes above 50 degrees N (usually far above). The latitude of Blair, Nebraska, is only 41°30' N. (Cumbria in the UK is about 54 degrees N.) No one knows why NLCs are expanding their range in this way; it's one of many unanswered questions about the mysterious clouds. Find out more about NLCs

here.

When and where will NLC show up next? "No idea," said Stu. "We can't predict them in advance. They just… appear. All we can do is keep looking, on every clear night, just in case. We do know that this summer is expected to be a very good one for NLC-spotting because they appear more at "solar minimum", and we're in a deep, deep minimum now, so all we can do is keep an eye on the sky, and cross our fingers!"

And if you love clouds of all kinds, check out Mike Hollingshead's website,

Extreme Instability

, which hosts an absolutely amazing collection of cloud images.

Source:

SpaceWeather.com

,

Mike Hollingshead,

Cumbrian Skies

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com