Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Nacreous Clouds


a cloud formation at great height before sunrise or after sunset when its coloring is similar to mother of pearl.

Taken from Dictionary of Science

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Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are rare but once seen are never forgotten. They are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn when they blaze unbelievably bright with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours. They are filmy sheets slowly curling and uncurling, stretching and contracting in the semi-dark sky. Compared with dark scudding low altitude clouds that might be present, nacreous clouds stand majestically in almost the same place - an indicator of their great height.

Taken from Atmospheric Optics

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