Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Skyglow (or sky glow) is the diffuse luminance of the night sky, apart from discrete light sources such as the Moon and visible individual stars. It is a commonly noticed aspect of light pollution . While usually referring to luminance arising from artificial lighting , skyglow may also involve any scattered light seen at night, including ...
Noctilucent clouds (NLCs), or night shining clouds, [1] are tenuous cloud-like phenomena in the upper atmosphere of Earth. When viewed from space, they are called polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) , detectable as a diffuse scattering layer of water ice crystals near the summer polar mesopause .
The clouds do not become that color; they are reflecting long and unscattered rays of sunlight, which are predominant at those hours. The effect is much like if a person were to shine a red spotlight on a white sheet. In combination with large, mature thunderheads this can produce blood-red clouds.
The common phrase "red sky at morning" is a line from an ancient rhyme often repeated with variants by mariners [1] and others: Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.
A sprite over Southeast Asia as seen from space.. Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electric discharges that occur in the mesosphere, high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky.
During broad daylight, the sky is blue due to Rayleigh scattering, while around sunrise or sunset, and especially during twilight, absorption of irradiation by ozone helps maintain blue color in the evening sky. At sunrise or sunset, tangentially incident solar rays illuminate clouds with orange to red hues.
Airglow over Auvergne, France Yellow, green and red bands of airglow along Earth's limb as seen from space. Airglow (also called nightglow ) is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere . In the case of Earth's atmosphere , this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight ...
The Rayleigh sky causes a clearly defined polarization pattern under many different circumstances. The degree of polarization however, does not always remain consistent and may in fact decrease in different situations. The Rayleigh sky may undergo depolarization due to nearby objects such as clouds and large reflecting surfaces such as the ocean.