Noctilucent Clouds

If you look north after sunset this summer you may see something strange and beautiful in the sky -- night-shining noctilucent clouds. These clouds form at altitudes exceeding 80 kilometres, some ten times higher in the atmosphere than normal weather clouds. They are only visible at night, when they are lit by the sun while it is below the horizon and the sky around them is dark. This video includes stills and timelapse movies of the clouds in previous years.

The clouds peak in visibility every five days or so, a period related to the cycles of the planetary waves that circle the Earth and dominate the atmosphere at that altitude. This movement is seen in the satellite data at 25 seconds, taken three summers ago.

At the time of publishing, the last peak visibility date was the night of 19th July, so the next peak time will be the evening of 24th July and the early morning of 25th. The clouds are predicted to be visible until mid-August - good luck!

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[Mufaso1000]

Wonderful video.