Looks like the astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS) are having a gala time!
It is truly enviable because ISS’ residents are the only handful of people who are fortunate to witness the beauty of the Earth and its atmosphere from outer space daily—including the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, enchanting overhead views of cities and breathtaking views of mountains and seas. Every new image they send us is stunning!
More recenly, Expedition 47 Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency photographed an image of the noctilucent clouds that hover at altitudes of 76 to 85 kilometres above sea level. Noctilucent clouds were spotted shining and reflecting light at high altitudes—at the boundary of mesosphere and thermosphere, a region known as mesopause.
Tim Peake tweeted, “We’re seeing some rare high altitude noctilucent clouds just now – hope for some better pics next week.”
At these altitudes, water vapour can freeze into clouds of ice crystals. When the sun is below the horizon and the ground is in darkness, these high clouds may still be illuminated, lending them their ethereal ‘night shining’ qualities.
In the late spring and summer, unusual clouds form high in the atmosphere above the polar regions of the Earth. As the lower atmosphere warms up, the upper atmosphere becomes cooler and ice crystals form on meteor dust and other particles high in the sky. This results in the formation of noctilucent or ‘night shining’ clouds—electric blue wisps that grow on the edge of space. Polar mesospheric clouds can be observed from both the Earth’s surface and by astronauts on board the ISS which is in orbitual motion around Earth.
Check out Tim Peake’s tweet below!
We’re seeing some rare high altitude noctilucent clouds just now – hope for some better pics next week pic.twitter.com/xzHMEyJ9Mk
