For those of you operating night flights this week and want something new to look at on the way home, try this:
For the last few nights I have been able to see a fairly rare phenomenon called noctilucent cloud, which I couldn’t find in my dusty old ATPL books but it did turn up in an internet search. You should look towards the day/night line after sunset and you may see some wispy white clouds even when it is dark enough to see the stars. They are apparently made of ice crystals and form at an altitude of 85km in the midsummer months near the polar regions but other than that we don’t know much about them.
I have put a photo of it at
http://www.chris.brady.ukgateway.net/noctilucent.htm together with a link for more info from the boffins for those who are interested.
Has anybody else seen any other unusual or interesting sights at night? – Other than the usual UFO’s, Santa & reindeers and of course Elvis !