Electric blue clouds dazzle the night sky recently
Incredible shot of noctilucent clouds June 9th over Medford, Oregon. Image credit: Marc Spilde.
Every summer, northern latitudes are treated to an interesting phenomenon, noctilucent clouds. These clouds, also referred to as electric blue clouds have been unusually widespread so far this spring.
These clouds form much higher than typical clouds. The form around 50 miles above the Earth's surface, nearly all other clouds form in the lowest 10 miles of the atmosphere! They have been spotted much farther south than usual.
Incredible shot of noctilucent clouds June 9th over Medford, Oregon. Image credit: Marc Spilde.
These clouds actually form around particles left behind by meteors! Super cold water droplets freeze on the meteor debris and form ice. These clouds are made purely of ice. Read more about how these clouds form.
The best time to see these clouds are about one hour after sunset. Look in the western sky, you can also look for them in the eastern sky in the hour before sunrise. The moon will becomes full this weekend, but it should not affect viewing of any noctilucent clouds.
If you want to see more pictures of the electric blue clouds, the Spaceweather.com Realtime NLC Gallery is a must see!
While you're out, you wont be able to miss Jupiter rising. It will be near the moon this weekend. You can see the moons of Jupiter through a small telescope of binoculars. Check out this recent video of Jupiter and its moons!
Thanks for reading! Just look up; you never know what you will see!
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