Cloud enthusiast, Bill Whitcher, recently came across this article on the Atlas Obscura website which he felt is an excellent description of clouds through space and art

It’s noctilucent cloud season!

We have teamed up with our friends at Go Stargazing to raise awareness of the mysterious and elusive noctilucent clouds. Named after the Latin for “night-shining” these night sky phenomena are where stargazing and cloudspotting meet. Normally, astronomers’ biggest fear is a cloudy sky, but they love these extremely high clouds, with their ghostly, rippled appearance, just as much as we do. We and Go Stargazing are therefore inviting our members and friends to contribute their favourite photographs of these formations to a new Noctilucent Cloud Photography Showcase, which we hope will become a go-to resource for nighttime cloudspotters. .

Noctilucent clouds, or NLCs, are the highest clouds in Earth’s atmosphere, located in the mesosphere at altitudes of around 76 to 85 km (47 to 53 mi). They are too faint to be seen in daylight, and are visible only when illuminated by sunlight from below the horizon while the lower layers of the atmosphere are in Earth’s shadow. Still not fully understood, they are most often observed from latitudes between 50° and 70° north and south of the Equator, visible only when the Sun is below the horizon. Noctilucent clouds appear during the summer months, so we are now in the season for spotting them in the Northern Hemisphere.

If you’ve managed to photograph one of these beautiful formations – whether it was this summer or on a previous year – why not submit it for inclusion in the photography showcase? We will publish the images as a cloudspotting resource both on the Cloud Appreciation Society and Go Stargazing websites. Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Member 001) will also discuss our favourites images in a special live broadcast about noctilucent clouds on the Cloud Appreciation Society Facebook Page.

To submit your image for inclusion in this showcase, upload it to Instagram tagging both @GoStargazing and @CloudAppSoc in the description or email it to nlc@gostargazing.co.uk (max size 5mb). Either way, please remember to include the location, date and time you took the photograph, as well as your name so that we can properly credit you. We can’t wait to see what you’ve managed to capture of these illusive nighttime cloud!

Submit your noctilucent cloud photograph:

On Instagram…

Tag @CloudAppSoc and @GoStargazing in the description.

…or by email

Send it to nlc@gostargazing.co.uk (max size 5mb).

Include the location, date and time you took the photograph, as well as your name so that we can properly credit you.

Photographers will retain all rights to their photograph(s). They will be giving permission to Go Stargazing and Cloud Appreciation Society to share their imagery with our respective audiences. Credit will be applied to the copyright holder in all instances.

These examples over the US and Australia show how aircraft skywriting can be used to turn the sky into an advertising billboard. In the UK, advertising using aircraft smoke trails like this had been banned since 1960, but recent changes in legislation by the UK Government have made it legal. Now anyone can use the skies over Britain as an advertising billboard. We think this was a bad decision. We think the sky should remain one place where we don’t have to look at advertising and political messages. If you agree, please sign our petition to get the UK Government to reopen their inadequate public consultation on this that took place in March when the world was distracted by news of the Covid-19 pandemic, so that we can have this change in law overturned.

Aircraft skywriting over Sydney, Australia during a political march in 2017. (Photograph: © Max421 | Dreamstime.com)

Heineken advert made with five aircraft flying in parallel formation over New York City, US.in 2008. (Photograph: Brian Pennington, CC BY 2.0)

Religious skywriting message over Florida, US in 2011. (Photograph: Rhys Asplundh CC BY 2.0)

Advert for the Hooters restaurant chain over US, 2006. (Photograph: Oliver Wales, CC BY-ND 2.0)

Geico Insurance advert over San Francisco, US in 2012. (Photograph: Derek Wolfgram CC BY 2.0)

Advert for the Mohegan Sun casinos and hotels, over Boston, US in 2015. (Photograph: Steven & Courtney Johnson & Horwitz CC BY-SA 2.0)

Header image credits – Left: Cirrus clouds over the Isle of Colonsay, Scotland by Jacques Duijn (Cloud Appreciation Society Member 47,875), Right: Brian Pennington.

Marianne McKay, member 47,966, recently told us about an article in two parts by Don Pinnock writing for Maverick Life.

Attention all amateur weather photographers! Enter your best weather photos in the 2020 Weatherwise Photography Contest. Winners will be featured in the September/October 2020 issue.

Amanda Clements is a cloud appreciator who, over the last year. has written about summer and winter clouds…

Dirk Lambrechts is a big fan of clouds. He tells us He started creating pictures of clouds as an hommage to the painters of his region in the 17th Century.

Uwe Haass, member 41050 recently contact us about a new issue of stamps by Deutsche Post

Manuela Rettweiler, member 42844, recently contacted us about a ‘fire’ in the North tower of Cologne Cathedral

Tommaso Zamò (Member 14,276), is a teacher in a middle school in Buttrio – Udine (northeast of Italy)

Stephen Ingram joined us on the four-day Sky Gathering on Lundy Island last year.

Josephine Sedgwick, a journalist with the New York Times, recently produced an article about the Cloud Appreciation Society entitled Nature’s Best Poetry of 2019: Clouds

John Wood, Society member 44,848, recently published his 360-degree panorama of the Milky Way and Air Glow over Schoodic Point.

Jean Decker, member 44161, sent us this photo which shows a museum installation called “Touch A Cloud”

Jan-Hendrik von Kuick (member 8876) was inspired by the Cyanometer – an instrument for measuring the blueness of the sky

Jim Bishop (member 12,515) from Oroville, California, joined our recent trip to Lake Inari. He has shared with us an interesting and detailed document on the formation of thunderstorms.

Modestino Carbone, member 7416, recently sent us this very special photo of a work by the Belgian artist Jan Fabre “The man who measures the clouds”.

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Our US Speaking Tour, October 2019

Society founder and Member 0001, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, is giving a ‘Cloudspotting for Beginners’ speaking tour in the eastern half of the US throughout October 2019. Here are the dates and the links for booking places:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” text_align=”left” background_animation=”none” css_animation=””][vc_column][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” css=”.vc_custom_1570980006379{padding-top: 15px !important;padding-right: 15px !important;padding-bottom: 15px !important;padding-left: 15px !important;background-color: #dddddd !important;}”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Winter Harbor, Maine
Tuesday October 8 2019, 7:00pm
Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park

Boston, Massachusetts
Thursday October 10 2019, 6:30pm
Boston Public Library, 700 Boylston Street.

Ridgefield, Connecticut
Friday October 11 2019, 7:00pm
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum

Manhattan, New York
Saturday October 12 2019, 2:00pm
New York Public Library, Grand Central Branch,135 E 46th St

Manhattan, New York
Tuesday October 15 2019, 6:30pm
The Explorers Club, 46 E 70th Street

Atlanta, Georgia
Wednesday October 16 2019, 7:00pm
Fernbank Science Center, 156 Heaton Park Dr.

Athens, Georgia
Thursday October 17 2019, 5:30pm
Georgia Museum of Art

Bentonville, Arkansas
Friday October 18 2019, 7:00pm
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (evening)
Saturday October 19 2019, 11:00am
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (morning)

La Crosse, Wisconsin
Sunday October 20 2019, 5:00pm
University of Wisconsin–La Crosse

St Paul, Minnesota
Tuesday October 22 2019, 7:00pm
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Listen to Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, answering questions from the curious young listeners of the Everything Under the Sun podcast.

Rosemary Stewart, member 16444, told us about this unusual fog over the Needles, Isle of Wight, UK

Shotsy Faust, member 45472, is the curator of the Water Meter Gallery, situated on a residential street in Pacifica CA.

José Roberto Vasconcelos, CAS member No. 17,481 from Natal, Brazil recently told us that the ‘Clouds Observatory’ in Brazil was finally open.

Journalist Mari Saito joined us on our Sky Gathering to the English island of Lundy in May 2019.

Timothy Kessler, supporting member 89194, recently drew our attention to this article from Earth Sky

We have many members of the Society who are airline pilots – no one else after all, has a better view of the clouds from their office window

Jessica Volpe (member 45292) recently published her book “The One and ONLY Cloud: A Fact and Fiction Book about Clouds”.

For our Chinese speaking members, an article by Mengni Xing following an interview with Society Founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney.

Jan McIntyre, member 34,229 contacted us with details of an exhibition running at York Art Gallery.

Our German speaking members may be interested to read the recent profile about Bernhard Kaliner, Society member 9964

Join us for hands-on activities, including a Virtual Reality experience of Google Earth, as we explore the variety of ways we gather data about the weather.

A recent theoretical study shows that a major increase in CO2 could result in a dramatic reduction in low clouds responsible for keeping the surface cool.

Cloud mail art from our members…

Margaret Smyth, member 17515, recently told us about the extraordinary thunder and hailstorms in Australia in December.

We were interviewed by People and Company for their podcast about communities…

Longtime Society member, Annette Huber (member 7439) contacted us with a reminder that today (4th October) is National Poetry Day.

Julie Raymond-Yakoubian, member 24,422, recently came across an article on the Phys.org website about research carried out by UConn geographer Scott Stephenson and his team. Their theory is that the growth of trans-Arctic shipping and the increasing emissions accompanied by this will offset some of the overall warming in the Arctic by the end of the century.

You can read the full article on the Phys.org website

Nick Wigram, member 36265, has produced a series of cloud books for kids (and big kids too!).

Society member, Paula Russell, contacted us recently to tell us about this wonderful art installation on Governors Island, New York.

The installation – which made its debut at Palazzo Flangini during the 57th Venice Biennale – has been adapted and installed inside St Cornelius’ church to mark its reopening and will be there until 31st October 2018.

You can see more on the Governors Island website and also read a review on The Spaces

Daryl D Johnson, member 45193, recently sent “Solstice Sunset” and told us about her upcoming exhibition, “The Chi of Clouds” which begins on 7th September and runs until 28th October at Fry Fine Art, Peterborough NH.