Clouds, clouds, burning bright
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 10:20
in Astronomy & Space
High up in the sky near the poles some 50 miles above the ground, silvery blue clouds sometimes appear, shining brightly in the night. These are noctilucent or "night shining" clouds. Since 2007, a NASA mission called Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) has shown that the cloud formation is changing year to year, a process they believe is intimately tied to the weather and climate of the whole globe.