The cause of Noctilucent clouds (NLC) is a bit of a mystery still. What
little is known about them is that they are thought to be composed of ice coated
particles residing about 80km high above sea level in the mesosphere, an area in
the atmosphere between 50 and 80km above sea level. These rare types of clouds aren't
the same as the normal clouds we are used to in the troposphere where the worlds
weather takes place. They can be very faint, too faint to see during the day, so
to see them, the best time is during the twilight summer nights usually around midnight
at the months either end of the summer solstice when the sun is between 4 to 16 degrees
below the horizon. The most favourable place to be is a high latitude, about 50-
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NLC JULY 11TH-
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NLC JUNE 22ND-
© All photographs in the galleries copyright of Gordon Mackay
email gordon@mackayphotography.co.uk
Please ask permission if you would like to use any of the photographs on this page, thanks.
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