(Click image to enlarge) Photographed over Karasjok, Norway © Mark Humpage.
See another of his photographs in the Cloud Gallery here.
As any astronomer will tell you, clouds are certainly not limited to the Earth’s atmosphere. There are many different types of cloud to be found in space. This month’s Cloud of The Month is a break from the norm. It shows the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis, which are the effects on our atmosphere of a cloud that reaches us from the Sun.
The immense explosions and flares on the Sun’s surface throw out ‘plasma clouds’ of charged particles, such as electrons, protons and ions. These travel at speeds of around a million miles per hour (400km/s). In spite of moving so fast, they still take up to three days to reach us from the Sun.
The plasma clouds themselves are invisible. But we can see their effects as they come colliding into the Earth’s upper atmosphere. When enough of the charged particles arrive, they cause a ‘magnetic storm’ and interact with the atmospheric gases to release energy in the form of light. This is what causes the beautiful and elusive aurora colours in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Cloud Appreciation Society Member, Mark Humpage, recently travelled to Norway to view this amazing phenomenon. You can read about his exploits here: markhumpage.blogspot.com.
Mark tells us that the Vikings thought the Northern Lights were the contrails of Thor’s chariot being pulled by three goats. This sounds no less believable to us than magnetic storms caused by million-mile-an-hour plasma clouds.
Current Cloud of the Month:
March 2010
Previous Clouds of the Month:
February 2010
January 2010
Cloud Reflections (December 09)
Numbers in the Clouds (November 09)
Sun Pillar (October 09)
Convection Clouds (September 09)
‘Pile d’Assiettes’ (August 09)
Cumulus congestus (July 09)
‘Asperatus’ (June 09)
Clouds at Night (May 09)
Sundogs (April 09)
Diamond Dust (March 09)
Cloud Streets (February 09)
Crepuscular Rays (Jan 09)
Valley Fog (December 08)
Cloud Shadows (November 08)
Contrails (October 08)
Mamma (September 08)
Kármán Vortex (August 08)
The Summertime Halo (July 08)
The Nor’west Arch (June 08)
Microbursts (May 08)
Irridescent Clouds (April 08)
Northern Lights – Aurora Borealis (March 08)
Ice halos (February 08)
Lightning (January 08)
Roll Cloud (December 07)
Banner Cloud (November 07)
Stratocumulus (October 07)
The Unclassified Cloud (September 07)
Alexander’s Dark Band (August 07)
Fumulus Snail (July 07)
Distrail (June 07)
Altocumulus undulatus (May 07)
Cumulonimbus capillatus (April 07)
Lacunosus (March 07)
Horseshoe Vortex Cloud (February 07)
Jet-Stream Cirrus (Janurary 07)
Altostratus/Altocumulus/Altowhateveritis (December 06)
Anti-Crepuscular Rays (November 06)
Stratocumulus (October 06)
Altocumulus (September ’06)
The Kelvin-Helmholtz Wave Cloud (August ’06)
The ‘Brocken Spectre’ (July ’06)
‘Whale’s Mouth’ (June ’06)
Noctilucent (May ’06)
Cirrus (April ’06)
Cap Cloud (March ’06)
Fallstreak Holes (February ’06)
Nacreous (January ’06)
Cirrostratus (December ’05)
Tuba (November ’05)
Virga (October ’05)
Cirrocumulus (September ’05)
Altostratus (August ’05)
Cumulus (July ’05)
Mamma (June ’05)
Pileus (May ’05)
Lenticularis (April ’05)
Stratus (March ’05)
Cumulonimbus (February ’05)
Contrails (January ’05)
To
contribute a Cloud of the Month,
go to our Photograph Submissions
page.
