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Rare noctilucent clouds shine above the city of Kennewick in Washington State June 2. (Image credit: John Clement.)<\/p>\n
Noctilucent cloud season has officially begun!<\/p>\n
One of the earliest sightings was captured by photographer John Clement<\/a>, glowing in the skies over the city of Kennewick, Washington, on June 2, who had set out to capture a striking conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, which had occurred earlier that evening.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “As Twilight deepened I began to notice the possible noctilucents starting to become visible over Badger Mtn. as we call it, A popular hiking hill about a mile from my house,” Clement told Space.com in an email. “So at 9:58 I turned my camera towards Badger and took the first set of images and it confirmed they were noctilucent.”<\/p>\n The three-shot panorama was captured using an Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III camera coupled with a 150 mm lens set to capture a series of bracketed 1-second exposures as the clouds shone in the skies above Clement’s patio in southwest Kennewick.<\/p>\n Astronomy enthusiast Daniel Fischer<\/a> also posted a view of noctilucent clouds to the social media site X, showing the rare cloud formation shining above the town of Flensburg in a livestream on May 31.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The #NoctilucentCloud season 2026 which began a few nights ago at high Northern latitude has reached Germany: a #webcam view – https:\/\/t.co\/E4YbOrJ8Hl – from #Flensburg at 54.8\u00b0N from 15 minutes ago! pic.twitter.com\/Ycy4EB55EeMay 31, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n What are noctilucent clouds?<\/p>\n Noctilucent clouds<\/a> coalesce from tiny ice water crystals that accumulate in the mesosphere 50 miles (80 kilometres) above Earth’s surface \u2014 roughly 10 times the height of ordinary cirrus and cloud formations.<\/p>\n Their extreme altitude near the edge of space<\/a> allows them to catch and reflect sunlight long after sunset and before dawn, when the sun<\/a> lurks just below the horizon from the viewer’s perspective. As a result, they shine brightly against the twilight sky, where other clouds in the lower atmosphere appear dark, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n When and where to look for noctilucent clouds<\/p>\n \n Noctilucent clouds make for a spectacular summer skywatching treat… if you can spot them! (Image credit: Mantas Zilicius via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Noctilucent clouds are most commonly spotted between mid-May and mid-August, with a peak in sightings often occurring in the summer month of July in the northern hemisphere, according to the British Astronomical Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n The clouds tend to form near polar regions, where the mesosphere is at its coldest, according to the Royal Meteorological Society<\/a>. As such, Noctilucent displays are most commonly seen at latitudes ranging from 45 to 80 degrees north of the equator, based on data from the UK Met Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n For your best chance of spotting noctilucent clouds, look toward the western sky as the brightest stars<\/a> begin to emerge after sunset. Look out for delicate, wispy cloud formations that shine silver and blue in the twilight, while other clouds<\/a> near the horizon appear dark and silhouetted in the evening sky.<\/p>\n Editor’s Note: If you snap an image of noctilucent clouds and want to share it with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, name and location to spacephotos@space.com. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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