Explanation: Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash across this skyscape from northern Sweden. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable appearance was captured in this snapshot on January 12 with the Sun just below the local horizon. A type of polar stratospheric cloud, they form when unusually cold temperatures in the usually cloudless lower stratosphere form ice crystals. Still sunlit at altitudes of around 15 to 25 kilometers, the clouds diffract the sunlight even when the Sun itself is hidden from direct view.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Sweden Publikacii so slovami: Sweden
Sm. takzhe: Polyarnoe siyanie v forme flaga nad Shveciei Keks iz polyarnogo siyaniya s glazur'yu iz Mlechnogo Puti Solnechnaya kolonna nad Shveciei Solnechnoe galo nad Stokgol'mom Serebristye oblaka nad Shveciei