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Ernst van Loon | all galleries >> Scapes and Places >> Maastricht > Noctilucent clouds
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2009-07-14 Ernst van Loon

Noctilucent clouds

Maastricht (Limburg), Netherlands view map

Once in a while one can see unusual things in the sky. When this photo was taken at approx. 23 hr the sky should have been dark blue but it wasn't.
Noctilucent clouds are the highest clouds in the earth's atmosphere: they occur between 75 and 85 km altitude. Normally they are too faint to be seen. There's a nice article about this phenomenon at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noctilucent_cloud

What I find interesting is that there are at least three (four?) layers of clouds visible at the same time, each with specific and different shapes. The high contrast and colours of the sky add to the visual interest.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II ,Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
30s f/16.0 at 24.0mm iso200 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time14-Jul-2009 22:55:45
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 5D Mark II
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length24 mm
Exposure Time30.00 sec
Aperturef/16
ISO Equivalent200
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Modepartial (6)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programaperture priority (3)
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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