\u201cThink of it like being in a dark valley while a mountain peak nearby is still lit up by a setting sun,\u201d says Makens. \u201cYour sky is dark, but the clouds 50 miles up are still in full sunlight.\u201d<\/p>\n
On occasion, you might spot noctilucent clouds outside of the summer season. \u201cIf a rocket launch happens a little before sunrise or after sunset, there is a chance you will see the exotic \u2018jellyfish\u2019 cloud! These are actually noctilucent clouds,\u201d says Carfagno.<\/p>\n
How atmospheric changes might affect noctilucent clouds<\/p>\n
Scientists are also investigating whether noctilucent clouds are becoming more common\u2014and what that might reveal about changes in Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Both observations and satellite data suggest the clouds are appearing more frequently and at lower latitudes than they once did. Researchers suspect several factors may be contributing to the trend, though the exact cause remains unclear.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt probably is a combination of factors,\u201d says Carfagno. Greater public awareness through social media has likely increased reporting, she says. But \u201cthere is more water vapor in our atmosphere due to a warming climate, and prolific rocket launches likely transport both dust and water vapor to higher latitudes,\u201d she says. Because they form at the edge of space, they could serve as visible indicators of changes occurring high above Earth\u2019s surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThink of it like being in a dark valley while a mountain peak nearby is still lit up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[212105,212101,212103,61,60,212104,212100,212102,82,212099,212106,212107,212108],"class_list":["post-494190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-electric-blue-clouds","tag-glowing-clouds","tag-highest-clouds-on-earth","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mesosphere-clouds","tag-noctilucent-clouds","tag-rare-clouds","tag-science","tag-what-are-noctilucent-clouds","tag-when-can-you-see-noctilucent-clouds","tag-where-can-you-see-noctilucent-clouds","tag-why-do-noctilucent-clouds-glow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}