Tonight’s Noctilucent cloud show was fast moving, bright and spectacular. Watching it is one thing, but a time-lapse of many hundreds of exposures is a totally different matter. By playing back as a movie you can see how the ripples and waves are moving, as well as how the NLCs are moving in a totally independent direction to all other clouds. They are moving from north-east, and you are looking to where the sun rises on summer solstice (over the marina). This is of course due to the fact that NLCs are the highest of all clouds – on the edge of space.
This display was also very different from all previous ones, as NLCs were seen all the way south to Paris! The strangest of all is that it is not completely known or understood what NLCs are, and why they seem to be more common during solar minimums.
Bjørnehodet
Last updated on 29 December 2020
