Latest News

Launch of second CHAMPS sounding rockets on Oct. 13,2011 from the Andoya Rocket Range in northern Norway.

Measuring the Seeds of Noctilucent Clouds

In October 2011, a NASA-funded sounding rocket called CHAMPS flew up through noctilucent ice clouds to measure the meteoric smoke that seeds the ...

› Read More

NLCs Over Germany on July 9, 2011, are tied to space shuttle launch exhaust.

Tracking Shuttle Exhaust Reveals More Information ...

Scientists tracked space shuttle exhaust plumes to study airflow in the upper atmosphere. The water vapor spread faster than expected and collected ...

› Read More

Comparison of amount of NLCs in 1880 versus 1990.

Meteor Smoke Makes Strange Clouds

A key ingredient for 'night shining clouds' comes from outer space. Scientists have detected bits of 'meteor smoke' imbedded in them.

› Read More

Noctilucent Clouds in Motion

Swedish photographer Peter Rosén took this close-up, time-lapse movie of Noctilucent Clouds (NLCs) over Stockholm, Sweden on the evening of July 16, 2012. "What looked like a serene view from a distance behaves more like a stormy sea with wave after wave rolling in," Rosen observes.
Video courtesy of Peter Rosén
› Download video

Mission News

2012 Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins

They're Baaaack! The first noctilucent clouds for the 2012 season have been spotted.
Noctilucent Cloud Season Begins

Noctilucent clouds are back for 2011 and continue spreading to ever lower latitudes.
Clouds, Clouds, Burning Bright

The NASA mission Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere has shown that night-shining 'noctilucent' cloud formation is changing year to year, showing a link between northern and southern weather systems some 13000 miles apart.