Friday 24 July 2015

Noctilucent Clouds over the Farnes

After a great Sunset Cruise on Thursday evening with crystal clear skies and a great sunset I got a text from Gary to say that there is Noctilucent clouds starting to show. I looked at the time and it was about 11pm so I decided to go out and have a look.
I gave my friend Sarah a text to see if she fancied joining me and she jumped at the chance to come out.

We were a little bit lazy and just headed to the harbour so we could have a cuppa while taking some pictures.
The evening was so clear and bright you could see the clouds with your naked eye and they were just amazing witness.

If you don't really know what Noctilucent Clouds are then let me give you a little explanation about them.

Night clouds or noctilucent clouds are composed of tiny crystals of water ice up to 100 nm in diameter and exist at a height of about 47 to 53 miles higher than any other clouds in earth's atmosphere. Clouds in the earth's lower atmosphere form when water collects on particles, but mesospheric clouds may form directly from water vapour in addition to forming on dust particles.

They are most commonly observed in the summer months at latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the equator. They can be observed only when the sun is below the horizon and with last night being so clam and clear it was just perfect for it.

I'm not going to go on and on so I will let the pictures show you what they look like.





I hope you like this as I did and if you get a really clear sky in the summer then watch out for this.