How to distinguish the silver clouds from the ordinary

A few days ago in Kiel, Germany Laura Kranich saw in the sky a bright silvery cloud stretching from the North.

The clouds stretched in most parts of the sky. Her picture, taken at sunset, shows the difference between normal clouds, gray and floating low over the ground, and silver clouds, shining at twilight at a height of more than 80 km above the Earth's surface.

Noctilucent clouds — a seasonal phenomenon. They are formed when water vapor rises into the upper part of the earth's atmosphere and kristallizuetsya around meteor smoke (microscopic particles of meteors). The season usually begins in late may, peaks in July and ends in August. According to Kranich, it was her earliest observation of noctilucent clouds, and given the fact that it was only may, they were extremely bright and well-structured.

Previous studies have shown that noctilucent clouds sometimes exacerbated during solar minimum. Such conditions are now, as the Sun spots are not observed for 10 consecutive days.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»