syzygy
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/06/05
Posts: 1529
Loc: Hungary
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"NLC ALERT: Last night, a brilliant display of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) swept across Europe descending as far south as France. This marks the second time in a week that intense NLCs have appeared, and sky watchers should be alert for more in the nights ahead. Favored viewing sites include Europe, Canada and northern-tier US states--the same places where auroras are often seen. Go outside after sunset and look west. If you see electric-blue tendrils spreading upward from the horizon, you've spotted a noctilucent cloud: gallery.
Editor's note: The Iranian cloud described below is not a noctilucent cloud. Although it was sighted at about the same time as the NLC display over Europe, it is almost certainly an unrelated phenomenon.
On June 15th, sky watchers around Iran witnessed a strange and luminous cloud in the night sky. "I have never experienced a similar phenomena," reports veteran astronomer Babak A. Tafreshi of Tehran. Observing alongside two other astronomers, Oshin Zakarian and Pouria Nazemi, he took this picture:
Photo details: Canon 350D, 28mm, ISO 800, f4, 35s.
The object started out patchy, shapeless and dim; it quickly brightened and formed a blue-tinted cone with a nose of magnitude -2 or -3," he says. The cloud raced across the sky "moving about 20 degrees per minute."
"It was shining blue and moving fast," agrees Amir Hossein Abolfath, another witness from Tehran, who snapped this picture. "Twenty minutes after I saw it, my friend Asghar Kabiri saw the same cloud 900 km away from Tehran in Sa'adat shahr."
The cloud resembles the explosion of a partially-fueled Russian Briz-M rocket booster over Australia in February 2007. Likewise, this could be the re-entry and explosion of a derelict rocket, or it may be related to the June 15th launch of an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral. Stay tuned for more information."
http://spaceweather.com/
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syzygy
Master Cartographer
Reged: 10/06/05
Posts: 1529
Loc: Hungary
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On June 19th, bright noctilucent clouds (NLCs) descended over the lower United States. "This is the first time I've seen NLCs in this area for many years," says Kellen Harrel of Portland, Oregon. "The clouds were glowing very brightly." One state away, Jonathan Berry snapped this picture overlooking Lake Washington:
Photo details: Canon 20D, 24mm, f/2.8, ISO 100, 8 sec
Noctilucent clouds are a mystery. They were first reported in the 19th century after the eruption of supervolcano Krakatoa. In those days the clouds were confined to high latitudes, but they have intensified and spread with sightings in recent years as far south as Colorado and Utah. What causes NLCs? A NASA spacecraft named AIM is orbiting Earth on a mission to find out.
Summer is the season for NLCs, so keep an eye on the western sky after sunset. If you see electric-blue tendrils spreading up from the horizon, you've probably spotted a noctilucent cloud.
June 2007 Noctilucent Photo Gallery
http://spaceweather.com/
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