By Deborah Byrd in
Blogs | Earth on Jul 18, 2012

Video: Noctilucent or night shining clouds in motion

Night shining clouds via Peter Rosén and NASA

The photographer who captured this beautiful video said these night shining clouds looked like a stormy sea with wave after wave rolling in.

NASA released this close-up, time-lapse movie this week. It’s from Swedish photographer Peter Rosén, who captured these images of moving noctilucent clouds – sometimes called night shining clouds – over Stockholm, Sweden on the evening of July 16, 2012. Rosén said:

What looked like a serene view from a distance behaves more like a stormy sea with wave after wave rolling in.

The secrets of night shining clouds

Noctilucent or night shining cloud season begins for 2012

Deborah Byrd is Founder and President of EarthSky, which she created in 1991. EarthSky is a digital publisher that brings science and nature to millions of people around the world. Byrd has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. Besides blogging, Byrd is Editor-in-Chief of all EarthSky websites and social media outlets, and she oversees EarthSky’s science podcast series in English and Spanish. A science communicator and educator for 35 years, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and as a vital tool for the 21st century. Astrophysics, the night sky and imagining space travel remain among her most enduring lifelong passions.