Atmospheric phenomenae sticky

Wow - now that's service!

Cheers guys,

Phil.

Hi All,
Thanks for explaining about the links and showing me what NLC'S look like. Do they always occur low on the horizon or can they occur overhead? I remember a couple of years back that I got a phone call from a friend asking me if was watching the Aurora overhead. When I checked they were actually very fine brightly lit clouds not unlike what you have shown in your photos. It was definitely not an Aurora. I know because John Flannery didn't turn up on my right shoulder. Albert's excellent animation brought this incident back to me. Maybe they were some other type of cloud I don't know about.
This is terrible. Astronomers discussing clouds! What's happening with the weather?
Anyway we are heading back to Madagascar in September, well equipped with digital Canon's so expect some great night sky photos when we come back.
Regards,
Brian

From our latitudes Brian, we rarely expect to see them above 25 dgerees from the horizon. Aurora can occur over head (or anywhere), but like NLC's, the further north you are (especially in summer), the more likely you will see NLC's and aurorae. For aurora, the darker the sky, the better, that's why you'd see more in Winer.

By the way Brian, interesting article from everyone's favourite online encyclopedia will give you more info, and some more reference pictures:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_clouds