2004 Noctilucent Cloud Gallery
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Observing tips: Although noctilucent clouds appear most often at high latitudes--e.g. places like Scandinavia and Canada--they have been sighted as far south as Colorado, Utah and Virginia. Look west perhaps 30 minutes to an hour after sunset when the Sun has dipped 6o to 16o below the horizon. If you see luminous blue-white tendrils spreading across the sky, you've probably spotted a noctilucent cloud.

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Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyrighted by the photographers.


  Photographer, Location Images Comments

Andrew Greenwood,
Kerridge, Cheshire, England
Jun. 25
#1, #2, #3

Friday 25 June ended with a beautiful twilight. Sat outside in my garden I felt inspired to try my luck at observing Noctilucent clouds after the sun had sunk beneath the horizon. At about 0030 BST, I caught sight of a bright glow in the NE - it was a large swathe of noctilucent clouds. This was not the first time I had seen this type of cloud, but I had never seen it as bright as this before! For 50 minutes I watched it grow and grow ever brighter. The best way I can describe what I saw is to compare its shape and brightness to a telescopic view I recently had of the Lagoon nebula from a very dark sky site within the Sinai Desert, in Egypt. It was fabulous. Details: Nikon Coolpix 5700, 100 ASA 8, 30 and 60 second exposures.

Morten Ross,
Sandbukta, Svartskog, south of Oslo Norway. 59° 49' 24' N, 10° 45' 12' E.
Jun. 23
#1, #2,

After days with clouds and rain suddenly an opening with a crescent moon and noctilucent clouds. Just one hour and the skies were once again covered with clouds. Be prepared and you may see wonderful things. Nikon F70, ISO 200, 1 sec - F/5 @ 00:05:43 UT.

Brian Whittaker,
North Atlantic Ocean. Airborne at 37,000 feet.
Jun. 15
#1, #2, #3, more

This is a rare image showing a jet airliner at night silhouetted by an unusually bright Noctilucent Cloud display. A short exposure is required to 'stop' the jet, which is otherwise difficult to photograph at night without the back-lighting!

Douglas Cooper,
From a boat in Oban harbour, West of Scotland
Jun. 26
#1

This spectacular display went on till dawn.

Roger Hinton,
Aberdeen, Scotland
Jun. 26
#1, #2

I read about Noctilucent Clouds on Spaceweather.com, looked out of the window - and there they were! 25/26 June 00.15am A calm and clear evening after several stormy days. Aberdeen, Scotland Azimuth N-NE pic1 - D100, ISO 200, 3.6sec, f4.2, 48mm pic2 - D100, ISO 200, 3.0sec, f5.0, 92mm

Olaf Squarra,
Rostock, Germany
Jun. 18
#1, more

Noctilucent clouds + power station. Fast movements and changings in NLC height! The images were taken within 5 and a half minutes. Photo details: Canon DSLR EOS 300D lens: 4.5/200mm, 8s exposure at 200 ASA. More pics and weblinks to special realtime data you will find on my homepage.

Kevin Cox,
Hull, East Yorkshire, England.
Jun. 26
#1

This was the first time Denise and I had seen NLCs, three hours after Sunset, on a cool dark night looking North. What a sight! Finepix S5000 Digital Camera. The bright star is Capella.

Grahame Robertson,
Looking north over Loch Lomond Scotland 1.10 am BST
Jun. 26
#1, more

Camera Olympus C5050Z. After waiting an hour this show lit up very quickly and just kept going

Jean Chiasson,
St-Camille at 130 km of S-E of Quebec city (Canada)
Jun. 20
#1, #2

Noctilucent clouds Picture 1 - Ricoh XR-1, 50mm; f/1.7; 15 sec. Kodak Supra 400 Picture 2 - Ricoh XR-1, 80mm; f/3.8; 20 sec. Kodak Supra 400

Dominic Cantin,
St-Camille ( 100 km south of Quebec city )
Jun. 20
#1,

After an excellent but short astronomy night on solstice day, on the way home I saw these noctilucent clouds. It's the first time I've seen this kind of cloud; it was beautiful. I can't wait to see an other one !!! Photo Details: 20mm @ f 3 , 15 seconds , Polaroid High Definition Plus 400 © Dominic Cantin

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