Strange Skies
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Cloud Grey

Noctilucent clouds captured by ISS astronauts

Scott Sutherland
The Weather Network
Wed, 17 Sep 2014 11:33 UTC
Image
The view of our planet from space is amazing, but from time to time, the astronauts on board the International Space Station are able to spot an elusive treat - wispy, shining 'polar mesospheric clouds' hanging far above the planet's surface, like these ones spotted above the Ukraine on August 1, 2014.

Polar mesospheric clouds are pretty much what they sound like. They're clouds that happen over the planet's north and south poles, at mesospheric heights, or about 80 to 100 kilometres above the ground. The thin, wispy layer of ice crystals that they're composed of is virtually invisible during the day, when the sunlight is shining down through it. However, as the Sun is setting, and the rays of light from it strike this layer of ice crystals edge-on, the effect is quite spectacular.

Comment:
Noctilucent cloud intensity is a precursor to changes in global weather patterns. And it should be no surprise that the climate is not at all what it used to be, say 10 years ago. In fact Noctilucent clouds have increasingly become a more ordinary sight at lower latitudes, with the increased fireball and meteor activity in our skies (loading the skies with dust), along with the severe cooling of our upper atmosphere from low solar activity.

Noctilucent outburst over Europe
More cometary dust in the atmosphere: Noctilucent clouds appear above Gateshead in the UK late at night

To get ahead on what our solar system is up to with its ominous weather, read:
Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection (The Secret History of the World Book 3)

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Meteor

Space object slams Nicaragua's capital as asteroid passes Earth


RT
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:44 UTC
meteor hit
© article.wn.comMeteorite leave crater in Nicaraguan capital Managua.
A blast that filled Nicaragua's 1.2 million capital Managua with dismay on Sunday night is most probably a meteorite that left a 12-meter crater near the city's airport. The space rock might be a fragment of a larger space object that passed near Earth.

"We are convinced that this was a meteorite. We have seen the impact from the crater," Wilfredo Strauss of the Seismic Institute said, as cited by the AFP.

Nicaraguan authorities are pretty sure it was a piece of an asteroid dubbed "2014 RC", an estimated 20-meter large piece of rock that whizzed close past Earth, Humberto Garcia, of the Astronomy Center at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, told The Associated Press on Sunday. It was most clearly witnessed in the skies above New Zealand. At its closest, asteroid 2014 RC was a mere 34,000km from the Earth's surface, about one-tenth of the distance to the moon.

The impact was severe and was heard throughout Managua. The meteorite crashed into a wooded area close to Managua's Augusto C. Sandino International Airport around midnight and left a remarkable 12-meter diameter crater, 5 meters deep. However, no one was hurt and operations at the airport weren't interrupted.


Comment: Asteroids and meteors: Henny-Penny harbingers of things to come. A meteorite is a solid piece of debris, from such sources as asteroids or comets, that originates in outer space and survives its impact with the Earth's surface. It is called a meteoroid before its impact and may vary in size from tiny grains to large boulders.

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Rainbow

'Light Pillar' seen over Sabah, Malaysia


nst.com.my
Thu, 04 Sep 2014 07:56 UTC
Image
© Unknown
A strange vertical light that formed in the sky on Tuesday night took many Kota Kinabalu and Penampang folk by surprise.

Many rushed out to watch the beam of amber light that remained in the night sky for three hours, beginning at 7pm.

They took pictures of the incident and shared them via WhatsApp as well as uploaded them on social media websites.

Some of those who saw the pictures discussed the incident as being a possible sign of doomsday.

As mysterious as it sounds, the Sabah Meteorological Department has pointed that the phenomenon is known as a "light pillar".
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Attention

Major seismic event imminent? Strange glowing lights seen by pilots over part of the Pacific Ring of Fire

Jonathan O'Callaghan
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 26 Aug 2014 13:06 UTC
Image
Strange lights have been spotted near the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka (image by Dutch pilot JPC van Heijst). The sighting was made by pilots flying from Hong Kong to Alaska. The glow came about 20 minutes after a vertical lightning bolt was seen
* Strange lights have been spotted near the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka

* The sighting was made by pilots flying from Hong Kong to Alaska

* The glow came about 20 minutes after a vertical lightning bolt was seen

* Dutch pilot van Heijst ruled out squid-fishing-boats as the origin

* He says the cause may have been an underwater volcano

* An ongoing investigation is taking place to find out what happened

A pilot and his co-pilot have spotted a mysterious orange and red glow over the Pacific Ocean.

The strange lights were spotted south of the Russian peninsula Kamchatka during the flight of a Boeing 747-8 from Hong Kong to Anchorage, Alaska.

And while no explanation has yet been given, it's thought that they may have originated from the explosion of a huge volcano under the surface of the ocean.

Comment: Note that the pilots saw "an intense flash of light like a lightning bolt, directed vertically up in the distance". While there was no thunderstorm in the area, this does not preclude some form of electrical discharge event, which can and have occurred in virtually cloudless skies. A photo of a 'blue jet', or sprite, was photographed above Australia a few days later.

What could the red blobs be then?

Note that they occurred at the same time as the string of strong earthquakes hit the western side of the Americas (California, Peru, and Chile, on August 24th). So these lights may be another form of 'earthquake lights' that appear with episodes of subterranean stress, pockets of illuminated plasma between charged layers of the atmosphere.

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Bizarro Earth

Another outbreak of noctilucent clouds over Europe


Space Weather
Mon, 14 Jul 2014 01:56 UTC
The weekend of July 12-13 brought another outbreak of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) to Europe. Across the northern reaches of the continent, skies were criss-crossed by signature ripples of electric blue, like these photographed by Jaan Jalgratas of Tartu, Estonia:
Noctilucent Clouds
© Jaan JalgratasTaken by Jaan Jalgratas on July 12, 2014 @ Tartu, Estonia.
"The display was very bright and it extended at least 35 degrees above the horizon," says Jalgratas. "It was my best sighting ever."

NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. Seeded by "meteor smoke," they form at the edge of space 83 km above Earth's surface. When sunlight hits the tiny ice crystals that make up these clouds, they glow electric blue.
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Telescope

More cometary dust in the atmosphere: Noctilucent clouds appear above Gateshead in the UK late at night

Sara Nichol
The Chronicle
Mon, 07 Jul 2014 14:11 UTC
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Residents bemused by coloured lights in night sky above Felling at around 12.45am this morning - did you see something similar?

These strange lights had residents bemused when they appeared in the nighttime sky above Gateshead.

The dazzling lights, which appear to change colour, were initially captured on camera by Chronicle reader Paul Dobson.

They appeared in the night sky above Felling at around 12.45am this morning.

Mr Dobson took video and pictures from his home on Victoria Avenue.

Warning: The video below contains some strong language


Comment: See also: SOTT Exclusive: NASA blowing meteor smoke as noctilucent clouds intensify

Meteor Smoke Makes Strange Clouds - Imbedded in Noctilucent Clouds

The Harbingers of Change Can Now Be Seen All Around the World! Mysterious Noctilucent Clouds Brighten Up Night Skies

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Sun

Rare halo display in Finland's sky (VIDEO)


Mnhopkins.blogspot.fr
Sun, 29 Jun 2014 12:06 UTC
halo Finland
© Spaceweather.com
Looking at the sun can be a wincing, painful experience. Yesterday in Tempere, Finland, it was a rare delight. "On June 24th, multiple arcs and rings of light appeared around the sun," reports Ville Miettinen of Kuopio. "What a spectacular view!" He dashed inside and grabbed his camera to record the amazing vista.

Comment: This phenomenon seems to be getting more and more frequent. See also some pictures from Sun halos in:

Venezuela:Halo solar cautiva a los venezolanos este domingo
Mexico: Otro halo solar: esta vez en Saltillo, México (Video)
and Honduras: Fenómeno óptico solar en la capital hondureña

And these in just in the last two weeks! Another sign of the times as the atmosphere continues cooling...

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Bizarro Earth

Rare funnel cloud hovers over Florida beach


First Coast News
Wed, 11 Jun 2014 16:20 UTC

Atlantic Beach -- A funnel cloud hovered for a brief time over the Atlantic Ocean near Atlantic Beach Wednesday afternoon. The rare weather phenomenon could be seen for miles inland.
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Meteor

SOTT Exclusive: NASA blowing meteor smoke as noctilucent clouds intensify

Zoya Klebanova
Sott.net
Sat, 07 Jun 2014 01:37 UTC
NASA is blowing more 'meteor-smoke' in our eyes regarding the year's first (northern hemisphere) appearances of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) on May 24th. NASA outlet spaceweather.com claims:
Seeded by meteor smoke and boosted by the climate-change gas methane, noctilucent clouds have been spreading beyond the Arctic.
Image
© Noel BlaneyJune 6th, 2014: Electric-blue NLCs over Bangor, Northern Ireland
Rising methane from below, the alleged exclusive result of human industrial activity, is NOT responsible for noctilucent clouds. Increasing atmospheric methane levels are primarily due to methane being released from deep under the oceans.

Increased NLCs are a 'canary in a coal mine' alright, but not in the way Official Science would have us believe.
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Fireball 2

Early-season noctilucent clouds sighted in Germany

Adonai
The Watchers
Tue, 03 Jun 2014 22:05 UTC
For the second time in just a few days, noctilucent clouds (also known as NLCs) have been sighted in Germany, SpaceWeather reports. Although their northern season is just getting underway, researchers aren't sure why these early NLCs seem to favor German longitudes.

This morning shortly before sunrise, Chris Kranich spotted the telltale electric-blue ripples over Kiel:
noctilucent clouds germany
© Chris KranichNoctilucent clouds
"These second noctilucent clouds of the season appeared shortly after astronomic midnight and rose over the horizon for about two hours before disappearing in the morning twilight," says Kranich.

Noctilucent cloud season, which begins every year in late spring and stretches into summer, is just getting underway. NASA's AIM spacecraft saw the first NLCs of the northern season on May 24th. Ground-level sightings followed soon thereafter - first on May 30 and then on June 3. So far all of the sightings reported to spaceweather.com have come from Germany.

AIM researchers aren't sure why these early NLCs seem to favor German longitudes, but they're looking into it.

See more noctilucent clouds captured by Chris Kranich here.

Source: SpaceWeather

Comment: Noctilucent clouds are becoming more frequent and at latitudes where they were almost never seen before. For an explanation of this phenomenon and many other weather anomalies reported by SOTT over the years, see Pierre Lescaudron's new book Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection

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