Noctilucent Clouds

Eugene, Oregon

July 15th, 2009

**Submit your photos/comments or corrections to romick1@comcast.net. I'd love to hear about your sightings of NLCs.

Noctilucent clouds are high altitude polar ice clouds rarely seen south of 50 degrees north latitude. So imagine my surprise when a glance out my bedroom window revealed a bright display in the northeast sky right here in Eugene. These clouds are best viewed when the sun is between 6 and 15 degrees below the horizon, which equates to about 30 minutes to 2 hours after sunset in the west or the same time frame prior to sunrise in the east.

The first frame was taken that morning with a handheld point and shoot camera. The rest of the photos were taken the following evening with a tripod mounted SLR about 10 miles northwest of Eugene.

http://www.spaceweather.com/nlcs/gallery2009_page13.htm - Photo gallery of Noctilucent clouds from around the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_clouds - Wiki article about the clouds.

** Please note that the target photos are large .jpg files. Click on thumbnails for full- size images **

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7/15/09 0400 PDT Looking NE Canon Powershot SD850 IS 1/8 sec exposure at f/2.8	7/15/09 2224 PDT Looking NW Canon EOS T1i 5 secs at f/3.5	4 secs at f/5.6 55mm zoom


Same exposure. All EOS shots are ISO 3200	5 secs at f/3.5 This photo was taken at 2235 PDT. (1hr 47mins after sunset)	The sun is approximately 15 degrees below the horizon

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