Noctilucent Clouds?
Taken by Lenny Angello on June 17, 2015 @ Sudden Valley/Bellingham, WA USA
Click photo for larger image
  Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS 6D
Exposure Time: 2/1
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 1600
Date Taken: 2015:06:17 06:40:59
  
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Details:
At about 0247 PDST, the north sky brightened to expose rays and clouds. Having never actually seen Noctilucent Clouds I am guessing what composed this display. Local winds made high ISO and fast shutter speed necessary. Canon 6D, 16mm at f/2.8 ISO 1600 for 2 seconds
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Comments
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No, sorry Lenny, its just ordinary white cirrus clouds...

At 48°North (your latitude...and mine, in Paris, France), you have to be very very lucky to see NLCs.

I have seen it just one time in my life, right over my head and it was in...2009 (search -Spaceweather Time Machine- July 15th, 2009 if you want to see my pictures and all the others of this incredible display).

I can ensure you that when you see it, you cant miss it ! (electric blue color in a dark sky and typical -waves- shape).

We can hope to see a few NLCs in the coming weeks, but it will be much probably very low on the horizon.
A few days ago, it has been seen from the North of France (50°N), in a dark area...at 4 a.m !
Its here : http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=113520

As far as I know, it was the -more South- sighting reported on this site for this 2015 season...
Good luck !
;-)
Posted by Sylvain 2015-06-17 10:43:58
UPDATE : My pictures (on top of page) of the 2009 event, taken with a small pocket camera : http://www.spaceweather.com/nlcs/gallery2009_page12.htm

;-)
Posted by Sylvain 2015-06-17 10:57:52
Sylvain

Thank you for the information. Now I am even more puzzled. The photograph is facing exactly NORTH. This is the direction I frequently photo aurora. The city of Bellingham is responsible for the orange glow in the lower left. Since the Sun is yet to rise in the East (right side of photo), what could be responsible for the intense light from the north. There is nothing up there and the sky is normally dark in that direction.

Lenny
Posted by BigByrd 2015-06-17 12:54:33
@ Lenny :

Below the cirrus clouds, you can see a kind of -mist or fog-.

I think that the rising sun, reflected by this mist, is responsible of the cirrus light.

+ Remember that during summer solstice (now...), the sun is rising on the NORTH EAST, not just EAST...
Posted by Sylvain 2015-06-17 14:12:31
Sylvain,
I will have to seek out a Noctilucent Cloud display to satisfy my curiosity. Perhaps a drive northward into Canada is in my future!
Thank you, again.
Lenny
Posted by BigByrd 2015-06-17 16:14:12
You are welcome Lenny ;-)

Yes, it could be a good idea to -go North- trying to catch NLCs.

Currently, NLCs seems to be visible mostly at 53° North (see the nice picture at Edmonton), quite low on the horizon (I would say probably less than 5° above...).

So, it means that it is -invisible- for us, at 48°/49° North... :-((

Who knows, maybe with an -outburst- of NLCs ?? (check the AIM image on the Spaceweather homepage to follow this).
But remember that you need a clear sky too !

On the other hand, even if they are incredibly beautiful, NLCS are maybe not a -good news- at our latitude : they are linked to -climate change / global warming-

Seeing it means maybe higher greenhouse gases in the Arctic, something that we don t specially need !
Posted by Sylvain 2015-06-18 03:05:48
 
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