Strange Skies
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Attention

Northern Lights making 'rare' appearance in the skies above Cornwall, UK

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© Geoff RobinsonBeautiful: Incredible aurora appears over Bude beach
A photographer taking night time beach shots could not believe his eyes as he spotted the natural phenomenon

This stunning time-lapse footage shows the beautiful sight of the Northern Lights appearing in the skies over Cornwall.

A photographer taking night time beach shots could not believe his eyes as he spotted the natural phenomenon.

Chris Small was on the beach at Bude around 1.30am on Tuesday when the eerie ribbons of purple light appeared in the star strewn sky above.

The Northern Lights are frequently sighted in the Arctic Circle and Scandinavia and sometimes even Scotland but very rarely seen as far south as Cornwall.

And Mr Small was delighted.

"I've never seen them before although I've always wanted to," he said.


Airplane

All New Zealand flights grounded over radar glitch - reports

AKL Airport
© NZ Herald
All commercial flights across New Zealand have been grounded due to a radar fault that affected the country's entire airspace, according to local media.

All the already-airborne flights are allowed to land routinely, but due to the radar fault no jets are currently allowed to take off, Radio New Zealand reports.

"We were informed by Airways New Zealand of a radar fault which is affecting all flights nationally," an Auckland Airport spokesman told the NZ Herald.

Rainbow

'Fire rainbow' spotted over Saint John, New Brunswick

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© Misty Dawn/FacebookFire rainbow - taken over east Saint John.
A rare weather phenomenon known as "fire rainbow" was spotted over Saint John from several people in the region.

Peter Coade, a CBC meteorologist, said fire rainbow is a rare phenomenon that is formally known as circumhorizontal arc.

Coade said the colourful cloud formation requires very specific conditions to be in place.

"When the sun is very high in the sky, sunlight entering flat, hexagon shaped ice crystals gets split into individual colours just like in a prism," he said.

"The conditions required are very precise - the sun has to be at an elevation of 58° or greater, there must be high altitude cirrus clouds with plate-shaped ice crystals and sunlight has to enter the ice crystals at a specific angle."

Cloud Grey

Unusual 'night-shining' clouds seen as far south as the U.S.

Noctilucent clouds
© NASA's Earth ObservatoryThe polar, high-altitude clouds appear in various shades of light blue and white.

Data suggests night-shining clouds are increasingly common and occurring lower and lower in the atmosphere.


WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- A strange weather phenomenon spawned high in the polar atmosphere was recently seen as far south as the contiguous United States.

On June 10, both on-the-ground observers and NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft spotted noctilucent clouds, or "night-shining" clouds. The high-altitude clouds form in the spring and summer as the warming lower atmosphere sucks heat from above.

The cooling upper atmosphere causes ice crystals to take hold of meteor dust and other high-altitude particles. Occasionally, enough ice crystals accumulate to form visible clouds -- long blue and white sparkling wisps.

Noctilucent clouds were first documented in the mid-1800s after the eruption of Indonesia's Krakatau volcano sent ash throughout the atmosphere. In addition to vivid sunsets, skywatchers observed thin, glowing clouds, high in the sky. Even after the ash subsided, observers continued to note the phenomenon.

Comment: 'Rare' sightings of noctilucent clouds have also been observed in parts of England and Scotland recently.

SOTT Exclusive: NASA blowing meteor smoke as noctilucent clouds intensify


Question

Earthquake lights? Mysterious blue rays seen in skies over Mount Kinabalu, Malaysia

blue rays seen over Mount Kinabalu
Images of the blue rays seen over Mount Kinabalu.
KOTA KINABALU: The blue rays seen in the skies over Mount Kinabalu are believed to be a phenomenon usually associated with areas hit by earthquakes.

The photo and video of the blue rays over Mount Kinabalu went viral Thursday evening, a week after the earthquake.

Geologists describe it as a "blue brush stroke light".

They say the generation of lights involved ionization of oxygen in some types of rocks due to high stress before, during and after earthquake and other seismic activities.

The villagers in Ranau living at the foothills of Mount Kinabalu said that the blue rays lasted for a short while and they recorded a video the phenomenon for several minutes.

blue rays over mt Kinabalu

Comment: In the chapter, Earth 'opening up', in Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection, Pierre Lescaudron discusses various factors pertaining to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, including the Earth's minute slowdown exerting mechanical stress on the crust and electromagnetism.
Precursors that indicate alerts of this potential rise also include increases in: low frequency electromagnetic emission, magnetic field anomalies, earthquake lights from ridges and mountain tops, temperature anomalies over wide areas and changes in plasma density of the ionosphere
As seismic and volcanic activity increases across the planet, such 'earthquake lights' and plasma discharges will likely become more common. For a recent probable plasma (not HAARP - see articles below) discharge activity, check out this youtube video (contains some strong language) published on June 12, 2015 which happened in Greenwood, Indiana USA.


Read the following articles to learn more about HAARP:

HAARP and The Canary in the Mine

Mind Control and HAARP


Comet

Washington's Puget Sound skies dotted with 'fire rainbows'

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© Jen Brazas
The thin, wispy clouds floating around the Puget Sound region Monday usually do nothing more than give the blue skies a little bit of character.

But today, they were giving the skies a little bit of color.
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© Brian Willard Roetger
We had a number of reports of rainbow arcs in the sky -- both in a circular halo around the sun and just lighting up some clouds near the horizon -- a circumhorizontal arc, otherwise known informally as "fire rainbows."

They're both caused by the same thing -- those thin clouds are made of tiny ice crystals that at a certain angle to the sun will refract the sunlight like a prism. The type of arc they create are based on cloud position and shape of ice crystal -- and we had two rather common ones Monday.

Comment: This has been happening often in recent years, all over the world, and we suspect for the same reason that 'meteor smoke' gives rise to noctilucent clouds:

SOTT Exclusive: NASA blowing meteor smoke as noctilucent clouds intensify


Sun

Cosmic rays reaching Earth increase 10% in just one month as Solar activity continues decreasing

For the past month, solar activity has been low. The last big burst of solar activity happened on May 5th when an X2-class solar flare erupted from the sun's eastern limb. Since then ... quiet. To investigate the effect of low solar activity on the atmosphere, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus have been launching helium balloons at ~weekly intervals. Equipped with X-ray and gamma-ray sensors, the balloons measure ionizing radiation all the way from ground level to the stratosphere. Here are the results:
Increased Cosmic Rays
© SpaceWeather.com
During the past month of low solar activity, ionizing radiation in the stratosphere has increased by 10%. This may seem counterintuitive, but there is a simple explanation: The radiation we measure is dominated by cosmic rays--a mix of subatomic particles, X-rays and gamma-rays that come from outside the solar system. Explosions on the sun (especially CMEs) tend to push these cosmic rays away from Earth. During the past month, however, there have been relatively few CMEs. Fewer CMEs means more cosmic rays. Yin-yang.

Cosmic rays are an important form of space weather. They matter to anyone who steps foot on an airplane. According to NASA, a 100,000 mile frequent flier will absorb a dose of radiation equivalent to 10 chest X-rays--all from cosmic rays. Cosmic rays have also been linked to cloud cover, lightning, and they may play some role in climate change.

If the sun remains quiet, cosmic rays could increase even more. Stay tuned for updates from the stratosphere.

Rainbow

Giant fire rainbow colors the sky over Bangkok and baffles residents

fire rainbow bangkok
A giant fire rainbow appeared in the sky over Bangkok on June 9, 2015.

Many users of social networks say this iridescent cloud could presage an anomalous natural event, like an earthquake. Well hopefully not!



Comment: June sure has been an active month for 'signs' in the skies:

Sun halo appears during beatification mass in El Salvador

Rare 'smile in the sky' rainbow spotted over Welsh border

England night sky lit up by rare noctilucent clouds above Newcastle, Country Durham and Northumberland

Sun halo captured in Maine skies

US: Rare auroras and lightning visible side by side


Magnet

Rare U.S. Auroras and lightning visible side by side

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A solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of June 7th, sparking a G2-class geomagnetic storm. In the United States, surprised sky watchers from Maine to Washington witnessed a rare display of summer auroras. Outside of Rochester, Minnesota, photographer Marcella Chester recorded the green glow alongside a June thunderstorm:

"I've never seen auroras and lightning visible side by side before," marvels Chester. "These photos were taken between 2 and 3 am on Monday, June 8th."

At about the same time in Hartford, Wisconsin, Jake Stehli witnessed a similar display. "The auroras were visible to the naked eye with lightning in a thunderhead on the horizon as well," he says.
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© Jake Stehli
Researchers have long known that geomagnetic storms happen most often in spring and fall. In other words, auroras prefer equinoxes. That's why seeing them so close to the summer solstice is remarkable.

The show is subsiding, but might not be finished. NOAA forecasters estimate a 45% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on June 10th as the solar wind continues to blow.

Comet

England night sky lit up by rare noctilucent clouds above Newcastle, Country Durham and Northumberland

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  • A photographer captured the rare phenomenon in the skies above Newcastle, Country Durham and Northumberland
  • It is caused by tiny ice crystals that form clouds in the mesopause and scatter the twilight from the summer sun
  • Noctilucent clouds are normally only visible in the weeks around summer solstice in more northerly latitudes
Rare clouds high in the Earth's atmosphere turned the night's sky a vivid blue yesterday as summer sunlight was scattered by tiny ice crystals.

Pictures captured in northern England show the midnight skies illuminated with an electric blue colour.

The phenomenon was caused by rare noctilucent clouds - extremely small ice crystals that form in the mesopause - that sit more than 47 miles (75km) above the Earth's surface.

These clouds, which are the highest in the Earth's atmosphere, scatter the sunlight as it dips low in the sky, creating an eerie glow.

They usually occur in the weeks around the summer solstice when sunlight dips just below the horizon to illuminate the clouds.

Comment: Noctilucent clouds were also captured a couple of days ago near Minsk, Belarus:

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© www.reddit.com/user/eugenegg