Noctilucent Clouds from Mull of Galloway Lighthouse.

We are on holiday staying at one of the light-keeper’s cottages at the Mull of Galloway lighthouse at the moment. The views here are extensive all around on the headland and the dark sky quality is very high, well minus the bright blue beam of the new LED light that has just been installed in the lighthouse it is! At midnight I took the dog out for a walk and was greeted with panoramic noctilucent clouds spanning the northern horizon – the best view I have ever had. They changed constantly with bands and swirls, ripples and waves. I stood out there on top of the prehistoric burial mound above the lighthouse compound for two hours in an increasingly chilly wind, but it was well worth it !

Its my birthday! And there are Noctilucent Clouds!

Had a great day out in the hills above Rhayader today and was about to head for bed when I thought I would look out of the window and just check if there are any noctilucent clouds as there has been reports in the UK on twitter from quite low latitudes. Much to my amazement there was a fabulous show going on at 11pm through to midnight. Lots of ripples and wave details in the upper levels !

Noctilucent Clouds 15-7-08 10.50 – 11.10pm

What an amazing and unexpected sight! I popped out 10.45pm to take the dog along the canal towpath and was greeted with the view below, looking west from the house, of these electric blue glowing Noctilucent clouds. I wasn’t quite sure they were real at first, but they just hung there in the same position and got brighter while all the other cloud glided overhead and got dimmer so it was clear they were something out of the ordinary. Today they were confirmed as Noctilucents as other people on UKAI had photographed them too. A very pleasant first time viewing of these rare clouds for me on a lovely starlit night with the moon low in the south.

For more information on Noctilucent Clouds go to the Noctilucent Cloud Observers website here http://www.kersland.plus.com/