It"s around this time of year when some lucky people get to witness these rare, wondrous clouds. Known as noctilucent, or "night-shining," clouds, they"re the highest clouds in our sky and are only visible during summer. They"re made up of icy dust glowing at the edge of space, roughly 50 miles above the planet"s surface. The trick to seeing them is to gaze up into the sky at twilight, when sunlight is not reaching the Earth"s surface, but is still shining through the high-altitude noctilucent clouds. These clouds occur more often at high latitudes but have been seen lower than 50° north and south.
Noctilucent clouds
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Islands of the Salish Sea
-
Happy Easter!
-
Blue hour in Trondheim, Norway
-
Castelmezzano, Italy
-
Beach huts, Southwold, Suffolk Heritage Coast, England
-
A Portuguese fort takes a star turn
-
25th anniversary of September 11, 2001
-
American Eagle Day
-
A species no longer at risk
-
Independence Day of the Bahamas
-
The otherworldly red river
-
Asteroid Day
-
Paris is photo-ready this week
-
Finding a balance between wetlands and water treatment
-
It’s Weihnachtsmarkt time!
-
Maldives
-
‘Fringe’ takes center stage as Edinburgh celebrates the arts
-
Taiwan yuhinas in Alishan National Scenic Area
-
The Great Glen
-
Paper lanterns on the longest night
-
Giving Tuesday
-
International Lighthouse Weekend
-
Native American Heritage Month
-
Fiddlehead fern fronds
-
Glenariff Forest Park, Northern Ireland, UK
-
Ruins of a royal temple
-
Mysterious prairie mounds abound
-
Happy Mothers Day!
-
In the Navajo Nation for Code Talkers Day
-
An ultralight aircraft flying over the sands of Namibia
Bing Wallpaper Gallery

