New Delhi: It seems as if astronauts residing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are having a whale of a time.
We – along with many others, we're sure – definitely envy them because of the amazing views they come across every single day.
Either its the beautiful sunsets and sunrises, the enchanting images of various cities, breathtaking views of mountains and seas, or those incredibly colourful aurora's, every new image sends us reeling, because they are staggeringly stunning!
Expedition 47 Flight Engineer Tim Peake of the European Space Agency has photographed an image this time, that will help us see the Earth from a new perspective – through noctilucent clouds!
He tweeted, “We’re seeing some rare high altitude noctilucent clouds just now – hope for some better pics next week.”
Noctilucent clouds, or night shining clouds, are rare, high-altitude clouds that form between 76 to 85 kilometers (47 to 53 miles) above the Earth’s surface, near the boundary of the mesosphere and thermosphere, a region known as the mesopause. At these altitudes, water vapor can freeze into clouds of ice crystals. When the sun is below the horizon and the ground is in darkness, these high clouds may still be illuminated, lending them their ethereal, "night shining" qualities.
In the late spring and summer, unusual clouds form high in the atmosphere above the polar regions of the world. As the lower atmosphere warms, the upper atmosphere gets cooler, and ice crystals form on meteor dust and other particles high in the sky. The result is noctilucent or “night-shining” clouds — electric blue wisps that grow on the edge of space. Polar mesospheric clouds can be observed from both the Earth’s surface and in orbit by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
Check out Tim Peake's tweet below!
We’re seeing some rare high altitude noctilucent clouds just now – hope for some better pics next week pic.twitter.com/xzHMEyJ9Mk
— Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) June 2, 2016