APOD: Noctilucent Clouds over Florida (2024 Jul 09)

[APOD Robot]

Noctilucent Clouds over Florida

Explanation: These clouds are doubly unusual. First, they are rare noctilucent clouds, meaning that they are visible at night -- but only just before sunrise or just after sunset. Second, the source of these noctilucent clouds is actually known. In this rare case, the source of the sunlight-reflecting ice-crystals in the upper atmosphere can be traced back to the launch of a nearby SpaceX rocket about 30 minutes earlier. Known more formally as polar mesospheric clouds, the vertex of these icy wisps happens to converge just in front of a rising crescent Moon. The featured image -- and accompanying video -- were captured over Orlando, Florida, USA about a week ago. The bright spot to the right of the Moon is the planet Jupiter, while the dotted lights above the horizon on the right are from an airplane.

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[Ann]

That's a gorgeous image!

Noctilucent Clouds over Florida. Credit & Copyright: Pascal Fouquet

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It's a bit sad that the cause of these lovely clouds is the exhausts from the launch of a space ship, but still - it's a gorgeous image!

Ann

[Sa Ji Tario]

She looks like a fairy with a blue cape!!

[NateWhilk]

It's a bit sad that the cause of these lovely clouds is the exhausts from the launch of a space ship, but still - it's a gorgeous image!

Ann

It's sad you would point that out.