The Clouds That Shine at Midnight
In 1885, people across northern Europe noticed silvery-blue clouds glowing in the sky long after sunset. Nobody had described them before.
What was reported
In the summer of 1885, astronomers in Germany, Britain and Russia reported thin, rippled clouds that glowed electric blue and silver in the northern sky around midnight, when the sky should have been dark. The Berlin astronomer Otto Jesse photographed them and worked out that they were about 80 kilometres up, far above any ordinary cloud.
They appeared two years after the huge eruption of Krakatoa, and people wondered if the two were linked.
Explanations offered
Noctilucent, 'night-shining', clouds are made of ice crystals high in the mesosphere, lit by the Sun from below the horizon. Why nobody recorded them before 1885 is still discussed: Krakatoa may have seeded them, or more people may simply have been watching. They've become brighter and more common in recent decades.
- When
- First reported in 1885
- Where
- Berlin, Germany
- Witnesses
- Astronomers in Germany and Britain, and skywatchers since
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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